


Crash

by Dreamshaper



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Ghosts, Prosthetics, Some angst, au-ish, loss of limb, ouchies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2020-06-29 01:40:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 61,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19819900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: Erin and Abby haven't spoken in years, and both thought it would remain that way - until an accident unexpectedly brings them back together, and leads to discoveries and changes in their lives none of them would have expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my 50th Holtzbert fic, ahem. Perhaps I need help x) Enjoy! :D Special thanks to aloc / googoogojob on tumblr for giving me the title idea :D

Erin loved the quietness of her office after everyone had left and she was here on her own, the only sounds being those an old building just made and the scratching of her pen on paper as she graded papers at her desk.

She loved being at Columbia in general, loved teaching and sharing her knowledge on physics with students who actually wanted to be in the lecture; but this was what she loved the most about her job, those quiet moments when everyone else had gone home and she could focus fully on grading papers.

_Well, everyone but the cleaning lady, I guess_ , she thought to herself as she heard the vacuum cleaner down the hall; she had gotten quite good at ignoring this noise by now, and so, tuned it out as she focused on her work again, only looking up from the paper when the door to her office opened.

“Doctor Gilbert”, the cleaning lady said, shaking her head, Erin smiling a bit as she knew what was coming next, “you are here again so late.”

“Well, you know how it is”, Erin gave back, gesturing at the pile of papers on her desk, “still work to get done. And I don’t want to bring it home with me.”

“Don’t work too long”, the woman told her, a dialogue they had had several times in the past, the elder woman apparently somewhat concerned for Erin’s well being, “you’re young, you should live your life, not sit here after hours and grade papers!”

“Not that young anymore”, Erin pointed out, not adding her exact age, but figuring that the woman could tell that she wasn’t in her thirties anymore without her saying it out loud, “and I’ll go home once I finished this paper, I’m almost done.”

“Alright”, the cleaning lady nodded, “I’ll be back to clean in here in half an hour then, is that okay?”

“That’s perfect”, Erin smiled, making the elder woman smile back at her before she retreated; and as the door clicked shut, Erin went back to work, going through the rest of the paper and putting down her pen once she had finished, a quick glance at her wristwatch showing her that she had managed to finish ten minutes before the return of the cleaning lady.

She took a moment to make sure her desk was in order, the papers she already had graded and those which she still had to look at in two neat, separate piles; then, she shut down her computer, put on her jacket and grabbed her bag, looking around one last time before she finally left the office, gently shutting the door behind herself.

The thick carpet swallowed the noise of her steps as she walked to the exit, then the carpet was replaced by tile and made her heels click audibly on them; and then, she pushed the heavy front door open and stepped outside, surprised to see that the sun was already vanishing behind the horizon, only now fully realizing how long she had been staying at the office.

Shrugging it off, she got moving again, walking to the nearest subway station; she glanced left and right before she crossed the street, as she always did, and walked fast, as she always did... and that was when she heard tires screech, looking up in surprise, eyes going wide as she saw the out of control car round the corner just a few feet away, swaying dangerously from the side to side, the driver clearly not able to get it back on track.

It felt as if she was stuck in one of dreams where one can’t run from the invisible, shadowy thing chasing them, the air oddly thick around her, making her move slow as she tried to get out of the way; then the headlights blinded her, illuminated her, and then the impact happened, and the lights vanished as she fell into darkness.

* * *

“Come on, Holtzmann”, Abby said impatiently as the woman in question, a small blonde whirlwind of eccentric energy, picked up yet another tool instead of finally getting done for the night, “get done already, it’s our pizza night and I’m hungry.”

Pizza night had been established as a weekly event, and not only to they could eat pizza together, but also so Abby could make sure Holtzmann would leave the lab at a reasonable time at least once a week; she loved her work, and she loved working with Holtzmann, loved being her friend and colleague, but if it hadn’t been for pizza night, the engineer probably would have lived in the place and never would have gone home.

“Hold your horses, Abberoo”, Holtzmann gave back, Abby rolling her eyes at the nickname, but having given up on telling Holtzmann to not use it anymore, “I’m almost done, I just have to make sure this baby doesn’t blow up overnight.”

Before Abby had the chance to comment on the danger of leaving potentially explosive things in the lab overnight, her phone started ringing in her pocket; she frowned, not quite sure who would call her at this time, but figuring there was only one way to find out.

“You’re lucky”, she said as she pulled out the phone, “you have until I finished this call, but you better be done by then.”

“Uh-huh”, Holtzmann let out, then focused on her work again as Abby took the call; she didn’t attention to what her colleague was saying, her gaze concentrated on the machine in front of her as she worked fast, figuring that Abby might just grab the device and carry it away if she’d get done with the call before Holtzmann finished her work. 

So, she worked fast, but with care, not having been kidding when she had told Abby the device might explode if she didn’t finish; she barely noticed how Abby stopped talking on the phone, only realizing that her colleague had gotten done with her call when Abby sat down next to her, without saying a word, the phone still in her hand.

“Abby?” Holtzmann said, turning to look at her, concern only growing when she saw how pale Abby suddenly was, “what is it? Are you okay? Who was that one the phone? Did something happen?”

“I’m fine”, Abby said, in a robotic tone though which told Holtzmann that she wasn’t quite fine, “and that… that was a nurse, calling me about an accident.”

“What?!” Holtzmann was startled, hopping off her chair so she could stand in front of Abby and face her, “an accident? Is it your family? Abby, talk to me, come on, let me help you out here…”

“No, not my family”, Abby told her, slowly looking at her, as if she was waking up from a dream – or perhaps, Holtzmann thought at how pale she had gotten, a nightmare, “my family is fine. I spoke to Mom yesterday. It… They called about Erin.”

“Erin”, Holtzmann echoed, her eyes going wide a second later as she realized who said Erin was, “wait, _that_ Erin? Erin Gilbert?”

“Yes”, Abby confirmed, some colour coming back to her face, to Holtzmann’s relief, “Jesus, what a blast from the past. I haven’t seen her for more than a decade, and now they call me? This must be some sort of mistake.”

“What did they say?” Holtzmann wanted to know, if only to keep Abby talking; she knew what had happened between Erin and Abby, how harsh their friendship had ended, and usually avoided to bring this time of Abby’s life up, knowing well how much talking about it still hurt.

“That she had an accident”, Abby told her, “they didn’t want me to give me any details over the phone, just where she is and that they called me cause I’m listed as her emergency contact. This has to be some sort of mistake, I mean, we haven’t spoken in years.”

“Are you going to go there?” Holtzmann asked next; Abby shook her head, then shrugged, sighing heavily afterwards, and giving the engineer an unhappy look which made her feel bad for Abby all over again.

“I guess I should”, she then mumbled, not looking happy about the thought at all, “if only to make sure she changes it to someone more… appropriate. And to make sure she’s fine, I mean, she was my best friend, before… the whole mess.”

“I’ll come with you”, Holtzmann said at once, in a tone which showed Abby that protest would lead nowhere, “come on, let’s go. We can have pizza after we made sure she’s okay.”

Abby nodded, swallowing heavily as she put her phone away; Holtzmann gave her a hopefully reassuring smile and patted her shoulder a bit awkwardly, then the two women packed up and headed out, Abby feeling eager to get this over with while Holtzmann was mostly curious about Erin, wondering what the woman would be like in person and, even though she didn’t truly know her, only having read the book she had written with Abby many years ago, hoping that she truly was fine.


	2. Chapter 2

The man sitting at the reception desk appeared quite bored and uninterested, only letting out a vaguely agreeing noise when Abby told him that she had been called about Erin Gilbert, then turning to his computer without another word; he typed for a bit, then told them where they had to go, Holtzmann grabbing Abby’s arm and dragging her off before she could berate the man for his lack of enthusiasm.

They both felt dismayed when they realized that he had given them directions to the emergency section of the hospital; the nurse who had called Abby hadn’t told her much, only that it had been an accident, and for the first time since she had taken the call, Abby fully realized that this might be serious and more than a simple broken toe.

“Excuse me?” she stopped the next nurse which crossed their path, “I’m looking for Erin Gilbert, I was called that she’s here?”

“Sorry, I’m busy”, the nurse replied somewhat harshly, Abby’s mood only getting worse at this treatment, “information is over there, down the hall and to the right.”

“Thank you”, Abby frostily said, her patience wearing thin; this time, she walked on though before Holtzmann had to pull her along, and the blonde followed her, a bit uncomfortable now – she never had liked hospitals, and didn’t think she ever would, the smell alone being enough to make her stomach turn.

She bravely hid her emotions though, wanting to help Abby get through this unexpected situation; and so, she gave her best to not let it show that being in this place made her stomach clench up, even more so when they reached the info desk, Abby spoke to the nurse there and the woman reacted by reaching for her phone and making a call, apparently asking a Doctor Tolan to come to the info desk.

“Please wait over there”, she then said, gesturing at a row of uncomfortable looking plastic seats, “Dr Tolan will be with you in a minute.”

Abby nodded, her patience lessening even further, but she told herself it wasn’t the woman’s fault, taking in a deep breath as she walked to the seats and took one; Holtzmann sat down next to her, unable to stop her leg from bouncing, shrugging at the look Abby shot her after a while.

“I don’t like hospitals”, she said as an explanation; after a moment, Abby just nodded, and instead of telling her to stop it, leaned back in her chair, holding back a sigh as she stared up at the ceiling, wondering how long they would have to wait.

Thankfully, it turned out to not be that long, the doctor coming to them a few minutes later and asking if they were here for Erin Gilbert; they both got up from the chairs and nodded, Abby frowning when Dr Tolan wanted to know which relationship she had to Erin.

“She’s my friend”, she then said, deciding to bend the truth a little, not wanting to waste any more time in this place, “so how is she? What happened?”

“Please sit down again”, Dr Tolan gave back, and just from the way she said those words, Abby suddenly just knew that it was bad, that whatever had happened to Erin wouldn’t be settled with a band-aid and a few painkillers; her face paled again as she sat back down, Holtzmann taking the seat next to her once more and bouncing her leg again… but as Dr Tolan began to speak and to explain, Abby soon didn’t notice the bouncing anymore, unable to do anything but sit and stare at the doctor, her mind reeling as she tried to process what she just had been told.

She had known it would be bad, but she never would have expected it to be this bad, and all at once, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to just walk away again, not after what she just had been told about Erin’s state.

* * *

Doctor Tolan had taken a while to explain what exactly had happened to Erin, Abby and Holtzmann listening in shocked silence; realizing that the two would need a bit to process all of it, she then told them she’d give them a few minutes, and retreated, Abby pulling her phone out again the moment the woman was out of earshot.

“I’ll call her parents”, she said before Holtzmann could ask whom she wanted to call, “they deserve to know, maybe they made up since Erin and I… had our falling out.”

She quickly dialled the number, still knowing it by heart; anyone else would have been impressed, but Holtzmann knew how smart Abby was, how fast she memorized things, and so, she just watched, forcing herself to keep her leg still, not wanting to distract Abby as the researcher held the phone to her ear.

She thought about how, if Erin and her parents had made up after the falling out with Abby, the redhead certainly would have thought of changing her emergency contact, keeping those thoughts to herself though; at least, the call was taken fairly quickly, and despite the news they had been given, Abby sounded surprisingly steady when she spoke up.

“Hello Mrs Gilbert”, she said, “I’m not sure you remember me, or recognize my voice. This is Abby Yates, I got a call, Erin had an accident.”

“We’re not on speaking terms with Erin”, the woman replied at once, sounding so cold that Abby was surprised her ear didn’t actually freeze; stunned, Abby needed a moment to collect herself again, unable to keep a slight tremble out of her voice now as she thought back to what the doctor had told them.

“This is serious though”, she said, “and I figured you’d deserve to know. Erin’s in critical condition and she might—”

“We are not on speaking terms”, Mrs Gilbert repeated, as if this mantra could shield her against anything Abby had to say, “thank you for your call, Abigail, have a nice evening.”

And with those words, before Abby could say anything else, the woman hung up, Abby staring at her phone in disbelief, until Holtzmann asked her what had happened, worried for her friend again as Abby had gotten quite pale once more.

“She just hung up on me”, Abby said, looking at Holtzmann, disbelief still written all over her face, “told me they’re not on speaking terms with her, and then she hung up on me.”

“Harsh”, Holtzmann said, grimacing; Abby could only nod, then sat down heavily again, looking at her phone as if she expected it to start vibrating in her hand, and it would be Mrs Gilbert, and ask about her daughter, and everything would turn out fine after all, this nightmare would end and she’d be released from this responsibility.

The phone remained dark and quiet, and Abby had to realize that this wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

“We can’t just go”, she blurted out, Holtzmann not looking very surprised to hear this – the falling out between Erin and Abby had been bad, and painful, she knew that much even if she didn’t know all the details, but after what Doctor Tolan just had revealed, she had known that Abby wouldn’t have the heart to just leave.

“We have to be here at least when she wakes up”, Abby added, making the engineer nod, “she shouldn’t be alone, no one deserves to be alone after something like this, no matter what happened between us.”

“We'll be here”, Holtzmann reassured her, now reaching out to place a comforting hand on her back, “both of us. For as long as it’s necessary.”

She didn’t specify for whom it might be necessary, for Abby or for Erin; Abby gave her a thankful look and nodded, then took in a deep breath as she got up from her seat, signalling to Doctor Tolan that she was ready to see Erin now, the tall woman coming over from where she had been waiting a few feet away, asking the two women to follow her, Holtzmann keeping her hand on Abby’s back as they walked, wondering where all of this might lead – and how Erin would react to what had happened to her, and to the fact that a woman she hadn’t spoken to in years would be at her bedside once she’d wake up.


	3. Chapter 3

Erin had never in her life been in so much pain.

Everything hurt, and she could only whimper as she laid there, not even able to open her eyes, for the light hurt, too; she didn’t know where she was, and what had happened, and she was scared.

She heard someone mumble soothing words to her, an oddly familiar voice she couldn’t quite place; and then, the pain faded, and so did her consciousness as she drifted off into the darkness again.

For a while, she drifted like this, and she was glad each time she went back into the darkness, as the pain was there every time she came out of it; and every time she came out of the darkness, there was not just the pain, but the oddly familiar voice, too, sometimes speaking to another voice, one which wasn’t familiar the slightest, but sounded oddly pleasant.

She didn’t know how long she drifted like this, in and out of the darkness; the pain didn’t seem to lessen, not enough to let her notice, and she was scared of the moment when she wouldn’t be able to slip back into the dark, when she would be forced to face what had happened.

This moment came faster than she had wanted it to, but at least, when she came out of the dark this time, Erin could open her eyes, finding herself looking up at a pristine white ceiling.

“Oh dear”, the unfamiliar, but pleasant voice she had heard through the darkness said, “of course you’d open your eyes now, when it’s just me. Um, hi.”

A woman bent over her so she wouldn’t have to turn her head, and Erin felt thankful for that, because her head hurt, and her neck hurt, and pretty much everything else below that; she blinked, never having seen this woman before in her life, sure she would have remembered the gravity-defying updo of her hair… and the stunning blue of her eyes, eyes which were filled with concern as they held her gaze.

Or maybe she had amnesia, she realized, maybe this woman was her friend and she just couldn’t remember what had happened… but she did remember who she was, how old she was, that she worked at Columbia, she remembered that she had worked late again the day before – _had_ it been the day before? – and she remembered the bright headlights of the car as it had come rushing towards her.

And the pain, when it had hit her and...

“Hey”, the blonde woman said, sounding a bit panicked, Erin realizing belatedly that her breathing had gotten faster, “it’s fine, you’re safe now. You’re at the hospital, it’s fine.”

“Who”, Erin croaked, then fell silent as talking hurt, too; at least though, the woman figured out quickly what she wanted to ask, giving her a smile which probably was supposed to be reassuring, then Erin felt a brief, but tender touch on her hand, not quite sure what it was as it didn’t quite feel like human skin, and didn’t last long enough to let her figure it out.

“Holtzmann”, the woman told her, “I, um… I’m a friend of Abby. Abby Yates.”

Erin froze, and for a few seconds, even her pain was forgotten.

Abby. This was a friend of Abby. Which meant Abby was probably here. Because, Erin remembered, she had never gotten around to change her emergency contact to someone she actually was in contact with.

She never had found anyone she’d trusted enough, after Abby.

“Abby’s here, too”, Holtzmann confirmed these thoughts, unaware that they were running through Erin’s mind, “she just went to get some drinks. She should be back any minute.”

As if this had been a cue, the door opened and Erin heard footsteps, not daring to turn her head; she heard Abby say “oh!” at seeing her awake, then the researcher bent over her, too, and Erin was somewhat surprised to see her smile, almost having expected her to look stern an annoyed.

“You’re awake”, she added, “welcome back. You’ve been out for quite a while, you know.”

Erin wondered how long “quite a while” was, but didn’t quite dare to ask, not sure she really wanted to know; she wasn’t sure what to say, not having expected this the slightest, she had known the hospital would call Abby, should something happen to her, but she hadn’t expected Abby to really respond to the call and be there.

“Abby”, she finally croaked out, shocked at how hoarse her voice sounded; in response, Abby told the woman she had brought with her to get some water, then looked at Erin again, the redhead feeling her touch her hand moments later, a tender touch she had expected even less than Abby’s presence.

“Yes”, she confirmed, apparently thinking that Erin had questioned her really being there, “I’m here, and so is my friend Holtz. You’ll be fine, alright? Don’t worry about anything for now, you’ll be fine.”

Erin knew what Abby meant – that she shouldn’t worry about their shared past, that they could talk about this later, when she felt better, and she managed a weak, grateful smile; Abby smiled back at her, and touched her hand again, and just when Holtzmann came back with the water, Erin drifted back into the darkness, exhausted after the short while she had spent in the light.

* * *

When Erin woke up again, it wasn’t just Abby and Holtzmann in the room with her, but a third woman, a tall, impressive one, her white coat showing that she was a doctor; and just like Abby, the woman smiled at her as she bent over her, asking her if she could tell her what her name was.

“Erin”, Erin croaked, thinking longingly of the water Abby had mentioned earlier, “Gilbert.”

“Good”, the woman told her, with another smile, making Erin wonder how badly she had been hurt exactly if saying her name was met with such praise; the pain was less, she noticed, apparently, she had been given some sort of painkiller while she had been unconscious again, and she was thankful for this.

“I’m Patricia Tolan, your doctor”, the woman continued, “do you know what happened to you?”

“Car”, Erin whispered, still finding it difficult to speak; the doctor nodded, apparently satisfied with this answer, Abby touching her hand tenderly again while Doctor Tolan took a step back from the bed.

“Get some more rest”, she advised, Erin once more realizing how tired she was, and wondering again how badly exactly she had been hurt, the pain was less now, but it was still there, and she remembered the pain when the car had hit her all too well.

“We will speak once you feel a bit stronger”, the doctor added, “and until then, we’ll make sure you’re comfortable.”

“Thank you”, Erin whispered, hoping that Abby realized she meant her too, and not just the doctor; in response, there was the tender touch of her hand again, and she managed a small smile as she drifted back off into sleep again, restful sleep this time which helped her body heal… and unaware of the shock which would await her once she’d come out of the dark fully.


	4. Chapter 4

It took a few more days of drifting until Erin came back out of the dark completely, fully awake and aware when she opened her eyes yet again after another night of restful sleep; she was still in pain, but yet again, it had lessened… and for the first time, she noticed that one part of her didn’t hurt, and felt frightened.

“Erin”, Abby’s voice came up again, surprising her with the fact that the researcher was still there, “hey, you look more… awake this time. How are you feeling?”

“I can’t”, Erin brought out, then had to swallow hard before she could continue, acutely aware of the one part which did not hurt and of how dry her mouth and throat were, “Abby I can’t… I can’t feel…”

Just the pained look on Abby’s face was enough of an answer, and Erin’s breath got caught in her throat; and even though Abby tried to stop her, not by holding her back, but by shaking her head frantically and telling her not to, she lifted her head, the world starting to spin around her oddly when she got a good look at her lower half.

She could see the blanket, and her left leg beneath it, the little hill where her foot pushed the blanket up… and where her right foot should have been, the blanket laid flat, and laid flat further up, all the way to her knee.

“Erin, honey”, she heard Abby say as her breath sped up, but couldn’t focus on the other woman’s voice, “don’t… Holtz, get the doctor, _now_ , she’s hyperventilating!”

She heard Holtzmann get up and hurry out of the room, but couldn’t look away from her leg, what was left of it; her breath kept quickening, and she brought out “no” in a high, thin voice, barely registering it when Abby placed one hand on her arm.

“Erin, please”, Abby said again, trying to make her look at her, “honey, come on, look at me. Don’t look at… that, look at me, please?”

In response, Erin started to cry, Abby’s heart breaking for her, the falling out they’d had completely forgotten at the sight; and so, she moved to hug her, as carefully as she could, not wanting to make her pain even worse, Erin crying into her shoulder as she held her close, wishing to go back into the darkness now so she could forget this and wouldn’t have to deal with what had happened to her.

* * *

“I’m very sorry”, Doctor Tolan said a while later, Erin having stopped crying at this point, but still glancing at what was left of her leg every now and then, the pain welling up again every time she looked at it, “we did what we could, we really did. But… there was too much damage, I’m truly sorry.”

Feeling oddly numb now, Erin kept looking at her leg, barely aware of the three women standing around her bed; she moved her foot, the one she still had, and for a moment almost could feel her other one, too, her oddly detached mind bringing up phantom limb sensation in response, and making her wonder if she’d feel this more often from now on, if her leg perhaps would even itch and she’d end up try to scratch it and touch empty air.

“They’re very good with prosthetics these days”, Abby said, making Erin look at her again, “once you… um, got used to it, it’s going to be fine, I’m sure it will be. Right, Doctor Tolan?”

“Right”, the doctor confirmed, but Erin found it difficult to feel relief, “and we have very capable psychological support, as well. You’ll get all the help you’ll need, Dr Gilbert, and you have your friends here too, to support you.”

_I’m not sure Abby can still be called a friend, even if she has been here all this time,_ Erin thought to herself as she nodded mechanically, not really meaning it, _and I don’t even know this Holtzmann person._

“Yes”, Abby threw in, making Erin wonder if she had somehow read her mind or had picked up on her thoughts about how she wasn’t sure if they were friends some other way, “we’ll help you, Erin, both of us.”

“Why would you”, Erin asked, suddenly not able to hold this back anymore, needing _some_ outlet after what had happened to her, “why would you care? Holtzmann, you don’t even know me. I don’t even know your first name! And Abby, after what I did to you…”

“Jillian”, Holtzmann threw in, waving a gloved hand, Erin looking at her a bit surprised as this was the first time the blonde had spoken up ever since she had woken up and had realized what had happened to her leg, “that’s my first name. I’m thirty-two, Virgo, gluten-full and an avid skier. Oh, and an engineer.”

“Okay”, Erin said, not quite sure what else to reply; and to her amazement, Holtzmann winked at her, then fell silent again, Erin blinking at the surreal moment, only to be distracted by Abby as the researcher cleared her throat.

“Never mind what happened all those years ago, alright”, she said, Doctor Tolan looking a bit confused at this turn of events, but not saying anything, “that’s not important anymore. We’ll help you, as I said, both Holtz and I, any way we can.”

“…thank you”, Erin mumbled, deciding not to question this for now – there would be fallout later, she was sure, once she’d be more or less stable again, and Abby would assume that she’d be mentally strong enough to handle a discussion or perhaps even being left alone again, and she told herself that she had to steel herself against this moment, so she wouldn’t break once it’d come.

Abby smiled at her, as if they had been friends continuously for the past few years; and Holtzmann was smiling, too, Erin noticed, giving her another wink when their eyes met, and making her wonder what the reason for this odd behaviour was.

“Alright then”, Doctor Tolan said, making them all look at her again, “glad we cleared that up? Anyway, Dr Yates, Dr Holtzmann, you know I have to ask you to leave now.”

Erin felt dismayed at the thought of being left alone, something the doctor clearly noticed as she told her that it was just for a short while, so she could check her bandages and injuries; the two women clearly had heard this before, nodding as they left the room, the doctor starting her work once the door had closed behind them.

“You know”, she said as she checked Erin’s injuries, the redhead staring up at the ceiling, not wanting to get a too close look at her wounds, “those two mean it when they say they’ll be here for you. They’ve been here every day since the accident happened.”

“How long has it been?” Erin dared to ask a question she had been wondering about for a while now, “I… I don’t know, I wasn’t really… all there for a while.”

“You were brought here six days ago”, Doctor Tolan told her, making her gape at her, “and, if I may be frank with you, you were in bad shape, for a while, we weren’t even sure if you’d make it. But now, you’re stable, your wounds are healing well, and you’ll make a good recovery, I’m sure.”

“My leg’s gone though”, Erin mumbled, glancing at said leg, pained again by how it ended just beneath her knee now, “I believe you that you did everything but… This… I don’t know if I can…”

“It will be okay, I promise”, the doctor told her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and smiling at her, not letting the doubtful look Erin gave her stop her, “Dr Yates was right when she said that prosthetics are very good these days. And, excuse me for being blunt again, but you have good healthcare, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Columbia!” Erin gasped, going wide-eyed, the doctor pulling back in surprise, “do they even know I’m here?!”

“They do”, Dr Tolan reassured her, and she let out a small sigh of relief, “Dr Yates called them and let them know.”

Relieved, Erin allowed herself to relax a bit, glad that at least this had been taken care of; she still was somewhat sure that Abby being with her was a temporary thing, that the researcher would leave her once she was better, and told herself to make the most of the time she’d have with her, looking up at the ceiling again as the doctor continued her work, asking herself how much longer she would have to be here and what would be done about her leg once she’d healed enough.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days went by, and to Erin’s amazement, both Abby and Holtzmann kept visiting her, showing up every day when visiting hours started and staying until they were over and the hospital staff politely asked them to leave; and they only left the room together when Doctor Tolan to came on check on her, always making sure that one of them was with her otherwise, while the other went to get snacks or drinks.

Doctor Tolan kept telling her that her injuries were healing up fine, but Erin still avoided to look at them, not quite ready to see the damage which had been done to her body; the pain was getting less with each day, thankfully, but no matter how often she looked at her reduced leg, it made her heart clench up, and she found herself wondering if she would ever get used to this.

Perhaps, she figured, once she’d get a prosthetic, it might get easier, once that empty space just below her knee was gone; another doctor had shown up a few times to look at her leg, an elder man who had kept muttering to himself, to Erin’s concern, but Doctor Tolan had reassured her that he was the best doctor for this in the whole hospital, and that she would get the best care possible.

Since by now, she had built up quite a bit of trust towards the doctor, Erin believed her, and tried to not let her scepticism about this elder man show whenever he came to check on her; unlike Doctor Tolan, he didn’t ask Abby and Holtzmann to leave the room when he came to do his work, and since she still didn’t want to look at the injury too closely, Erin kept her gaze fixed on the two women instead, noticing that Holtzmann did watch quite intently whenever her the bandages were removed from her leg and it was visible.

She wondered if this was some sort of morbid fascination Holtzmann had, but didn’t ask; she didn’t know Holtzmann well yet, but liked her well enough, with how helpful and concerned she seemed to be for Erin, a woman she never had met before Abby had been called about the accident.

So, she kept her questions about why Holtzmann found her leg so interesting to herself, even though it was a bit strange; and so, she had no idea what was waiting for her when one day, a week after she had come back fully from the darkness, Holtzmann entered her room with a large duffel bag, grinning at her as she carefully placed it on the chair she normally sat on.

“Brought you a present”, she said, Erin eying the bag, not sure what to expect – so far, when Holtzmann and Abby had brought her presents, it had been snacks from the vending machine, or a drink which was not the bland tea without sugar the hospital provided, but this clearly was something bigger, judging from how the bag was bulging.

“Don’t look so worried”, Abby said as she entered the room, carrying two paper cups of coffee and smirking at the look on Erin’s face, Holtzmann’s grin widening a bit in response, “it’s nothing bad or dangerous. Well, no more dangerous than the stuff she usually builds, but you might be happy once you see what it is.”

“Okay?” Erin gave back, eying the bag again, “what is it?”

“Before I show you”, Holtzmann said, already unzipping the bag though, as if to contradict herself, “you have to promise you won’t tell anyone in here, alright? I don’t wanna get in trouble with Patty, she’s so nice.”

“Patty?” Erin echoed, prompting Abby to explain that Holtzmann was talking about Doctor Tolan; Erin had a moment to wonder when exactly the two had gotten close enough to the doctor to end up on a first name basis with her – even though no one seemed to ever use Holtzmann’s first name, anyway – then she realized that Holtzmann was waiting for an answer and hurriedly nodded, curious now what might be in the bag.

“I won’t tell”, she promised, “well, maybe unless it’s something like a gun, then I would have to tell. But if it isn’t, I won’t, I promise.”

“Good”, Holtzmann smiled, then unzipped the bag fully, reached inside and pulled out the object in question, and Erin’s eyes went wide, her mouth practically falling open as this was the last thing she’d been expecting.

It was a prosthetic leg, looking much more futuristic than Erin ever had seen before, more like part of a robot than the prosthetics the hospital had shown her so far.

“It’s a prototype”, Holtzmann said apologetically, while all Erin could do was stare, amazed by how well made the leg looked, even though Holtzmann had just said it was a prototype, “it probably won’t fit yet, I only got to look and couldn’t take any measurements yet, but I can make it fit perfectly once I did.”

“Wow”, Erin brought out, still wide-eyed, Holtzmann grinning at her reaction as she moved the leg over to the bed so Erin could take a closer look, “you made this? This is amazing, I had no idea you… thank you so much for this, I can’t believe you’d do this for me, you barely know me!”

“You’re Abby’s friend”, the blonde shrugged, “that’s reason enough for me. Also, they might be good with prosthetics these days, but they’re not as good as I am, so I figured, why not, it’s been a while since I built something like this anyway. Good to stay in practice.”

“You’ve done this before?” Erin asked, a bit relieved to hear that, after all, from what she had heard, the woman was a nuclear engineer, and she was fairly certain that nuclear engineering didn’t include building prosthetic robo limbs for poor people like her who had lost a body part in an accident.

“Once”, Holtzmann replied somewhat cryptically – before she pulled the leather glove off her left hand, Erin’s eyes going wide again at the hand this revealed, looking much like the leg she had on her lap now, the metal glinting in the artificial light.

“Well, I’ve made a bunch of improvements to this one ever since I built the first one”, she added, pulling her sleeve up a bit to reveal it was not just her hand, but her forearm, too, and perhaps more than that, Erin realized, at the same time also realizing that she was staring, but not able to stop, “so I guess I did it more than once. And I only ever built an arm and a hand, so there might be some extra work needed to make your leg bend the way it’s supposed to.”

“That’s why she always wears gloves, too”, Abby pointed out helpfully, Erin for the first time consciously realizing that this was true, that she never had seen the blonde without the thin leather gloves, “so people don’t see. They’d want to know too many details and it’s not exactly a medically approved prosthetic.”

“Huh”, Erin let out, still stunned; she tenderly ran her fingers over the dark, smooth metal, impressed by the finely detailed work, down to five toes which all moved smoothly when she carefully bent them back and forth.

She found herself wondering when exactly Holtzmann had made this, since she had been here with Abby practically all day long; this again led her to thinking about the fact that Abby and Holtzmann surely had jobs to go to, but still they had been here all day long, keeping her company and making sure she had things to drink and eat which were not bland hospital food.

“I just wanted to show you”, Holtzmann distracted her from these thoughts, “so you have something to look forward to, in case the prosthetic they’ll present you with sucks. You like it?”

“Of course I do”, Erin gave back at once, making the engineer grin brightly while Abby smiled, as well, “thank you so much for doing this for me. You barely know me and still…”

Holtzmann smiled again in response, a bit bashful now, Erin noticed; the engineer shrugged, then pulled her glove back on and her sleeve back down, covering up her own prosthetic arm, Erin now wondering how that had happened and how she had dealt with it, but figuring that she would find out sooner or later, suddenly quite sure that the two women wouldn’t leave her anytime soon after all.


	6. Chapter 6

Abby had brought Erin a whole stack of books so she wouldn’t die of boredom, to the physicist’s amazement still remembering all the authors she had liked to read during college; and so, after Doctor Tolan had gotten done with her evening check on the redhead, Erin read a few chapters, until she felt tired enough to drift off into sleep quickly once she’d switch off the light.

Holtzmann had taken the leg she had made with her again when she had left together with Abby, but Erin didn’t mind, remembering perfectly what it had looked like and how the smooth, cool metal had felt beneath her fingers; the fact that she had lost her leg still dismayed her, but at least, she now knew that she would get a well-made replacement, having watched Holtzmann move closely after she had revealed her own prosthetic arm and having realized that she never would have been able to tell it wasn’t real, had she not known.

Yawning, Erin decided that it was time for her to sleep now, putting her bookmark between the pages before she closed the book and put it on her nightstand; she switched off the light, then got as comfortable as her injuries allowed her – the pain had lessened considerably, compared to how bad it had been when she had woken up for the first time, but it still was there, and if she moved too fast, it flared up, reminding her that her body was far from fully healed yet.

Closing her eyes, she tried to relax, telling herself that she had to get some proper sleep so her body could heal; and even though she hadn’t done much more for the past few weeks than lie in bed all day, talk to Abby and Holtzmann and sleep, she felt tired, yawning again as she closed her eyes.

Quickly, she felt herself drift towards sleep, by now not bothered anymore by the noises the hospital produced at night… and just when she was close to falling asleep fully, the temperature in the room dropped noticeably, and she shivered, pulling the blanket tighter around herself before she consciously realized how cold exactly it had gotten and opened her eyes again.

She laid facing away from the door, but even with her back to it, she could see the weak blue glow, and her heart paused painfully for a moment – before it started beating again so fast that it almost hurt, her breath quickening as she remembered this sort of glow all too well.

It was the same kind of glow she had seen when she had been little, when the ghost of her neighbour had been haunting her every night for a year.

Her breath got caught in her throat as her heart kept racing in her chest, eyes wide in the darkness of her room; she didn’t dare to turn look, afraid of what she might see, afraid of what this might mean.

When she had been little and her neighbour’s ghost had haunted her, her parents hadn’t believed her, had sent her to therapy, and the therapists hadn’t believed her, either; Abby had been the only one to believe her, back in high school, had stood by her side when the other kids had bullied and attacked her, even though Erin hadn’t even been sure she believed herself anymore.

_This isn’t real_ , she told herself, even though the way she could see her own breath was proof that at least, it truly had gotten colder in her room, _this is caused by the stress and maybe the medication and the trauma of the accident. Ghosts aren’t real. This isn’t real._

Despite reassuring herself that it wasn’t real, she held her breath as she realized that the blue glow was moving, implying that the ghost was, too; and a short while later, the glow faded away, signalling that the ghost had moved past her room, the fact that it slowly got warmer again and that she couldn’t see her breath anymore either just another indicator for the ghost being gone.

Now she finally did dare to look, turning slowly; her room was dark and quiet, as it should be, the door was closed, and after a few tense moments, Erin let out the breath she had been holding as she allowed herself to relax, staring up at the ceiling as she wondered if she’d be able to get any sleep that night.

* * *

“Yikes”, was the first thing Holtzmann said as she entered the room in the next morning, “you look super tired. Did you have trouble sleeping last night?”

“Sort of”, Erin told her as Abby entered the room behind the blonde, not quite sure if she should reveal what she had seen – after all, it was all too possible that Abby had given up on thinking that ghosts were real, like she herself had tried to, and that Holtzmann had no idea of their ghost-hunting past, and would think they both were insane if Erin brought up what she had seen the previous night.

Erin wasn’t quite sure why, but the thought of Holtzmann looking at her the way her classmates had looked at her hurt, and made her insides clench up oddly.

“Bad dreams?” Abby asked sympathetically, her voice and eyes kind, as if they hadn’t been not speaking to each other for years; and thanks to that kindness, Erin blurted out the truth before she could stop herself, suddenly not caring about the consequences anymore, realizing that Abby deserved this honesty, after how she had been there for her every day since the accident.

“I saw a ghost”, she said, Abby going wide-eyed while Holtzmann went perfectly still, staring intensely at her, “well… sort of. Last night. I didn’t see the ghost itself but… I saw the blue light they usually come with, and my room got so cold I could see my own breath.”

“What!” Abby squealed, sounding quite excited, “for real? Oh my God, Erin! Wait, you’re okay, right?”

“I’m fine”, Erin reassured her, touched by her excitement and the immediate concern for her well-being, “well, as fine as I can be, stuck in the hospital like that. Anyway… I didn’t dare look towards the door, but I think it didn’t even come here, it just walked past. So… I didn’t really see it.”

“Floated”, Holtzmann commented, shrugging at the confused look Erin gave her, but apparently deciding to elaborate, to Erin’s relief not looking as if she thought the physicist was insane when she continued.

“Ghosts float, don’t they”, she said, with another shrug, “they don’t walk. So the ghost floated past your room, I imagine.”

“I suppose so”, Erin had to agree, hesitating for a second before she continued, “so you… you believe me? Both of you? I wasn’t even sure I wanted to tell you, with how long it’s been, Abby, and… well… everything.”

“I’ve never stopped believing in ghosts”, Abby declared, “and my research in that field was the main reason why Holtzmann started working with me, so no worries there. We both believe you.”

Holtzmann nodded with enthusiasm, then even pumped her fist, grinning now; Erin found this reaction a bit strange, didn’t question it though, her unasked question answered anyway when Holtzmann spoke up once more.

“I wonder if we can hide some equipment in here”, she pondered, looking around, “somewhere where Patty or one of the nurses won’t find it. Maybe beneath the bed?”

“Excuse me”, Erin piped up before Abby could comment on this idea, “what sort of equipment are we talking about? I’d like to know, in case you hide it under my bed. It’s not dangerous, is it?”

“Naaaah”, Holtzmann let out, with a dismissing wave of one hand, “just some recording equipment, I think. As a start, at least. Then, if we do get something, we can think about… other stuff.”

“Recording equipment should be fine”, Abby said, making Erin nod after a moment, the redhead deciding at the same moment that she wouldn’t question this further for now – for now, she was just happy they believed her, and hadn’t decided that she was crazy and that it would be best for them to run far away.

“Can you go get it, Holtz?” Abby continued, distracting her from these thoughts, “I’ll stay here with Erin so she won’t be alone.”

“Sure thing”, Holtzmann replied, already rising up from her chair; she reassured them both she would be back quickly, then hurried off while Abby curiously leaned forward in her seat, asking Erin what exactly she had seen, how it had felt, the excitement Erin could see in her eyes and heard through her voice more than making up for the fear she had felt the previous night.


	7. Chapter 7

Considering that she had to go all the way back to their lab at Higgins, pack up the equipment there and then come back, Holtzmann was surprisingly fast; and since Patty was in the room checking on Erin when she came back, she put on a perfectly innocent face, making sure to not draw any attention to the bag she was now carrying as she sat down.

Thankfully, Patty was busy with her work, telling Erin that everything seemed to be healing fine and that soon, they would be able to try a prosthetic; Erin just nodded, thinking of the one Holtzmann had made for her, already pretty sure that it would be better and easier to handle than any the hospital might provide her with.

Keeping those thoughts to herself, Erin just nodded again when Patty told her that the specialist would come by soon to take a look of his own at her progress; and then, the doctor left the room, and the moment she was out the door, Holtzmann jumped up from her chair, grinning as she grabbed her bag.

“Alright”, she said, moving over to the bed, then dropping out of Erin’s sight to get beneath it, the physicist finding herself smiling as she heard her wiggle around there, “let’s set this up. It’s just some simple recording equipment, sound and picture. I hope you don’t snore really loud though or that will be all we’ll hear.”

“Or fart in your sleep”, Abby said with a giggle, making Erin gasp in mock indignation; then, they both giggled, and Holtzmann snorted beneath the bed, falling silent again though as she worked, Erin hearing a few clicks and clacks as the engineer set up the equipment.

She felt a few pokes in her back, raising an eyebrow as she wondered what Holtzmann was doing now; and a short while later, the engineer emerged from beneath the bed, dusting off her clothing as she sat back down again.

“I was worried the cleaning lady might find the stuff if I leave it on the floor”, she explained the poking before Erin had to ask, “so I mounted it to the underside of your bed. She might still find it if she looks too closely, but judging from the dust bunnies I got on my shirt now, I sorta doubt that.”

“I think it’s a cleaning guy, actually”, Erin replied thoughtfully, “he’s been here a few times after visiting hours and awkwardly tried to make small talk. Anyway… with the equipment up there, think it will work?”

“I juiced it up, so yes it will”, Holtzmann replied, a hint of pride in her voice now, “the camera activates at movement and at lightning changes, so it will only start recording if something opens your door or if the blue light shows up again. The audio recording will have to be on the whole time, cause with the general noise level of a hospital, it makes no sense to have it react to noise, it’d constantly switch on and off. Here.”

She handed a little device with two buttons on it to Erin, a crudely drawn speaker on one button and an eye on the other; as it turned out, it was a remote control for the equipment, so Erin could turn it on and off – in case she did have to fart, Holtzmann added with a wink which prompted Erin to noisily clear her throat –, the physicist duly impressed at the fact that Holtzmann obviously had made the device herself.

“Eh”, the engineer shrugged when Erin told her how impressive this was, “I’ve built a robotic arm to replace my own, a remote control is child’s play in comparison. Well, I didn’t build it alone, but still.”

Now Erin was curious who had helped her, but figured it wasn’t her place to ask; instead, she carefully put the remote control in her nightstand, then got comfortable again, feeling a bit better about the previous night’s events now that they were actively doing something about it.

“I wonder if it will show up again”, she said out loud, glancing towards the door as if the ghost might sense they were talking about it and would materialize out of nowhere, “and if it did before, and I just didn’t notice because the painkillers made me fall asleep too fast. Doctor Tolan did say that they changed the painkiller to a lighter one so…”

“This is so exciting”, Abby declared in response, rubbing her hands gleefully and making Erin smile at her enthusiasm, “an actual ghost! Holtz and I have been out and about trying to record one, you know, but we weren’t lucky so far. Not even in the most haunted hotel in New York.”

“Maybe they were shy”, Erin guessed, making Holtzmann snicker, “and they hid cause they knew you were there to film them. Let’s hope this hospital ghost won’t feel the same way.”

It made her feel oddly light to be able to speak of her experience with such ease, that both Abby and Holtzmann believed her and hadn’t questioned her for a second; anyone else, she knew, might have suspected that it had been a hallucination, perhaps caused by the trauma of the accident or by her medication or a mix of both, but Abby and Holtzmann hadn’t questioned her for a second, immediately having believed her when she had said that she had seen a ghost.

They fell silent as someone knocked the door, then the elderly doctor Erin had had check on her leg a few times entered the room; he was muttering to himself again as he took another look at her leg, but at least, this time, he spoke to her, too, confirming what Patty had said about how it was healing well and that soon, he’d present her with the prosthetic.

“You’ll have to go through physical therapy to get used to it”, he said, sounding oddly mechanical, as if he had recited this a million times – and he probably had, Erin realized, considering his age and the fact that he apparently was a specialist on his field, “but we offer a wide variety of therapy options for cases such as yours. You will get all the support you need, Doctor Gilbert.”

Erin let out a vaguely agreeing noise, not sure if he was expecting a response or not, simultaneously noting that, unlike Doctor Tolan, he hadn’t asked Holtzmann and Abby to leave; and Holtzmann was studying her leg again, the doctor either not noticing or caring, and Erin felt excited all at once as she thought of the prosthetic Holtzmann had made for her.

“Alright”, the doctor said, covering her leg again with a fresh bandage, “that’s it for now. I will come back as soon as the first build for your prosthetic is done.”

“Thank you”, Erin replied, again not sure if he expected this or not; at least this time, he acknowledged her, giving her a brief nod, then leaving the room without another word, Holtzmann letting out a snort the moment the door had closed behind the man.

“His bedside manner is questionable”, she then said, in response to the questioning look Erin and Abby both shot her, “let’s hope his prosthetic building skills are better than his social ones. I mean, I’m a weirdo, but not even I am that weird.”

“The one you made is gonna be better, anyway”, Abby said, making Holtzmann grin with a hint of pride; Erin smiled as well, not daring to make such a judgement yet though, but clearly Holtzmann didn’t mind, coming to her feet as the doctor was gone again and asking Erin if she could take a few measurements of her own.

“Sure”, Erin gave back, figuring that it had to be done if the prosthetic Holtzmann had made for her was supposed to fit properly; the engineer smiled and winked at her, then got up and moved to her leg, her hands calloused, but surprisingly gentle when she removed the bandage.

If she was grossed out by how the healing wound looked, she did a good job at hiding it, Erin thought to herself; so far, she had avoided to look right at the injury herself, but she figured it wouldn’t look pleasant, feeling quite grateful for how unaffected Holtzmann appeared to be as she pulled a measuring tape from her pocket and did her work with it.

She got done faster than Erin would have expected, noting the numbers down in a grubby little notebook she pulled from her pocket; both the notebook and the measuring tape went back into her pocket then, and she nodded, apparently satisfied with what she had built.

“Looks like my estimated measures were quite close to the actual numbers”, she then said, Erin feeling impressed again, “I’ll just need to make a few small adjustments, then it should fit perfectly. Doc Grumpy McGrumperson was right though, it won’t work perfectly from one day to the next, neither with the one from him, nor with the one I made, alright?”

Erin nodded, already having been aware of this – certainly, a better prosthetic wouldn’t mean that she’d have less work to do; still she felt confident that she’d be able to do it, with the help of the hospital staff and of her friends, smiling to herself as she realized that she considered Holtzmann a friend at this point, and that she was glad that Abby had brought this interesting, eccentric woman into her life.


	8. Chapter 8

The prosthetic which was presented to Erin didn’t look as impressive as the one Holtzmann had made, but she figured that it would do, for the physical therapy and until she’d be allowed to go home; it felt a bit uncomfortable at first, and she quickly realized how much work she actually would have to do, sweating after just a few simple exercises, now somewhat regretting that she had spent most of her days before the accident sitting behind a desk and never having thought much about working out.

She told herself that she could do it though, and that giving up wasn’t an option; and so, she bravely struggled through the hours of physical therapy the hospital provided for her, often feeling exhausted and drained when she was brought back to her room, and each time, Abby and Holtzmann were there, waiting for her return, armed with cold drinks and snacks.

The physical therapy left her so exhausted that she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep each night, and didn’t take note of the ghost anymore; each morning though, the three of them reviewed the tapes together, and on each and every one of them, the blue glow moving past Erin’s door appeared, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes shortly after sundown, not skipping a single night.

“It’s too bad you can’t get out of bed and look when it floats by”, Holtzmann said one morning, after they had seen the blue glow float past the closed door again, “or at least leave the door open so you can see it.”

“I know”, Erin sighed, dismayed about this, as well, “the nurse always closes the door after bringing my dinner, and I haven’t found a good excuse yet to ask her to keep it open. This would be easier if I could get out of bed on my own already.”

“Hmmm”, Holtzmann let out, and from the way Abby raised an eyebrow at her, she knew what that particular sound meant, “I might have an idea. Let me check something.”

She got up from her chair and, to Erin’s amazement, got under the bed; then, she asked Abby to check, the researcher obligingly rising from her chair, Erin not quite sure what was happening when she went out the door, then turned in the hallway and peered inside, walking back in afterwards and going here and there, looking at the bed at each time.

“Looks good”, she then said, Erin finally realizing what they were doing and her mouth falling open, “I knew you’re there and couldn’t spot you. Someone who has no idea will never see you.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea”, Erin half-heartedly tried to protest, even though part of her was giddy at the thought of having someone here all night with her, someone else to witness the ghost with their own two eyes and not through recordings, “what if you get caught Holtz? Then we’ll be in trouble.”

“Erin, please”, Abby gave back, shaking her head, “we’re all adults, we don’t get in trouble like kids would. Also, with all the money your insurance is pumping into this hospital for your stay here, they might as well overlook a friend spending the night.”

“Hm”, Erin let out, not quite convinced yet; Holtzmann reassured her that she would be quiet when anyone would come in though, and that it was time to get a proper look at the ghost, Erin having to admit that this was a good point, nodding her agreement after another moment of hesitation.

“And if we do get caught and yelled at, I’ll just charm the nurse”, Holtzmann smirked after Erin’s nod, “well, unless it’s a guy. Then I won’t.”

This confirmed what Erin already has suspected, namely that Holtzmann was very gay; and oddly, she felt a weird pang of jealousy at the thought of the engineer charming a nurse, a feeling she quickly pushed aside though, and one she made sure her features wouldn’t show.

Abby and Holtzmann started talking about what Holtz should do, once the ghost would appear, unaware of Erin’s thoughts and feelings; and as they talked, Erin wondered where that jealousy had come from, if it had been a one-time thing or if it’d happen again, and what she should do about it, quite convinced that Holtzmann might see her as a friend at this point, but never would be interested in her as anything else than that.

* * *

This day, Abby left before visiting hours were actually over, so she wouldn’t be asked to leave and people might notice that Holtzmann wasn’t with her; and Holtzmann hid beneath the bed, holding her breath there when the nurse entered with Erin’s dinner, glad when it did work out for real though and the woman didn’t see her.

Wanting to make sure she wouldn’t get caught, Holtzmann waited another five minutes before she crawled out of her hiding place; she took one look at Erin’s dinner and grimaced, then saw the pudding cup and let out an “oooh” sound, the physicist giggling before she batted her eyes innocently and asked her if she liked pudding.

“Ooh I love pudding”, Holtzmann gave back, eying the pudding cup as if it was the last pudding on the face of the earth, “almost as much as I love Pringles.”

“Holtz”, Erin replied somewhat formally, making her smirk slightly at her tone, “would you like my pudding cup?”

“That, dearest Erin”, Holtzmann said in a tone just as solemn, making her giggle again, “would be most wonderful and would make me very happy.”

“Here you go”, Erin said, handing her the pudding cup and laughing once more at how she immediately started to beam brightly at her; not bothering to use a spoon, Holtzmann simply lifted the cup to her mouth, as if it was juice, and more or less drank the pudding, with surprisingly loud slurping noises.

“Good thing you’re making those sounds now, and not at night when the ghost is around”, Erin commented, shaking her head as Holtzmann produced an exceptionally loud sound in an attempt to get the last few bits out, “you might scare it off, it’d think there’s a ghost more powerful than itself.”

“Heh”, Holtzmann let out, clearly not offended by this comment; she wiped her mouth, then ran her finger along the inside of the cup, getting out the last few bits of pudding, the look of bliss on her face when she licked it off making Erin smile, only for her cheeks to heat up when the engineer then licked her lips, with a content little sigh which strangely hit Erin right in the core.

“I hope it won’t take forever to show up”, she said, more to distract herself than out of real concern about this, “cause if you fall asleep down there, I can’t wake you up, I’d have to yell and that would wake everyone else up, too.”

“You could bounce up and down on the bed”, Holtzmann suggested in response, putting the pudding cup back onto the tray while Erin raised an eyebrow at her, “that might wake me up. But no worries, I brought my phone and it’s fully charged, so I can keep busy, and wake you in case you fall asleep.”

“That’s good”, Erin said, not commenting on bouncing up and down on the bed; Holtzmann winked at her, then got comfortable in her chair as she checked her equipment once more, apparently not wanting to hide beneath the bed until she absolutely had to, and as Erin watched her make sure the camera and tape recorder would work properly, she found herself smiling again, glad that Holtzmann was with her and that she would have at least one night in this hospital she wouldn’t have to spend on her own.


	9. Chapter 9

Even though she had been planning to stay awake until the ghost would show up, Erin drifted off into sleep some time after the nurse had shown up to remove the empty tray from her room; Holtzmann had hid beneath the bed again during that time, and then had stayed there, just in case nurses would poke their head in randomly without knocking during the night, and unlike Erin, she did manage to stay awake, reading on her phone as she waited for the ghost to appear.

At least, this night, it didn’t wait until late at night to show up; shortly after midnight, Holtzmann shivered as the temperature dropped rapidly, and she was out from beneath the bed in a flash, bending over Erin and whispering her name, glad when the physicist woke up at once.

Before Holtzmann had the chance to say anything else, the blue glow started to shine through the narrow gap between the door and the ground, and Erin gasped, at the same time oddly relieved that the engineer was now seeing it for real too – even though it had been caught on tape, she knew that it was different to actually see it, and judging from Holtzmann’s excited face, she felt quite similar.

“Come on”, the blonde whispered, prompting Erin to look at her in confusion, “let’s go look at it!”

“Holtz, I can’t”, Erin gave back, nodding at her leg, “no prosthetic, remember? I’d fall!”

Holtzmann just shook her head in reply, then hurried to the door – and to the wheelchair parked next to it, Erin momentarily not sure how she was supposed to get into it without help, only for Holtzmann answer that unasked question by picking her up with surprising strength, but also quite unexpected gentleness, Erin forcing herself to hold back a little surprised squeal, not wanting anyone to hear her.

“There we go”, Holtzmann mumbled as she carefully lowered Erin into the wheelchair, and the physicist was sure that she had heard a tremble in her voice, wondering if it had been caused by the strain of lifting her up or by something else; before she could ponder this further though, Holtzmann pushed the camera into her hands and asked her to film, reassuring her it was already switched on and all she had to was aim and record

She opened the door and poked her head out, making sure that no nurses or other personnel was around; then, she moved to stand behind Erin and pushed the wheelchair out into the hallway, an audible gasp coming from Erin as she got her first real look at the ghost.

It was a woman, she could tell at once, judging from the long, flowing dress she was wearing – and not a modern dress, either, it looked more like something from the 18th century – and from the long hair which floated around her head; her feet were a few inches above the ground, confirming Holtzmann’s theory that she wasn’t actually walking, and she kept her gaze straight ahead, not allowing the two women to see her face.

“Wow”, Erin whispered, stunned; and while she hadn’t been loud, it apparently had been enough for the ghost to hear her, as she stopped, then slowly turned on the spot, the fact that she was levitating making this look creepier than it should have.

“Uh oh”, the physicist said, not quite sure if this was a good thing; the ghost stared at her, her face oddly calm, then floated closer, but at least, she did so slowly, and wasn’t rushing at them, something which made Erin feel a bit better about it, her hands trembling a bit as she made sure to keep the camera focused on the apparition.

“At least she seems peaceful”, Erin mumbled, Holtzmann nodding behind her at first, then realizing Erin couldn’t see that and letting out a vaguely agreeing noise instead; not taking her eyes off the ghost, Erin reached out with one hand, her voice surprisingly steady now as she spoke up.

“Hi, hello”, she said, the ghost not reacting to her words in any visible way, “I’m Erin Gilbert, Doctor of Particle…”

The ghost let out a shriek which made her ears ring, and her somewhat friendly face turned into a horrible grimace as her jaw unhinged and her eyes became empty holes; Erin had a second to let her eyes widen – and then Holtzmann was in front of her, getting her body between the ghost and Erin, blocking her from any attack which might come now.

And a second later, foul-smelling, ice cold slime started raining down on Holtzmann as the ghost spewed the gross substance, making her yelp in dismay as it hit her, dripping green and gooey down her back, inside her pants, into her hair.

Erin squawked in shock as a few droplets hit her despite how Holtzmann was trying to shield her, shivering at how cold the stuff exactly was; she heard the ghost laugh, but couldn’t see her, Holtzmann blocking her sight – then the apparition rushed past them and vanished through the ceiling, Holtzmann letting out a groan as she straightened up again and felt the slime slide down her back and legs.

“Ugh”, she let out, shuddering, Erin giving her a sympathetic look, touched by how quickly and unhesitatingly Holtzmann had moved to protect her, “that’s disgusting. I’ll have to use the shower in your room, I hope I won’t get caught now."

“We better go back there”, Erin suggested, eying the slime, “before this stuff dries on your skin and in your hair.”

“Good point”, Holtzmann nodded, moving behind her again; she turned the wheelchair around, then rolled Erin back into her room, frowning to herself as she did so – the ghost had shrieked before she had started sliming, and Erin had yelped quite loudly, too, and she figured that someone had to have heard, wondering why nobody had come running to check what was going on.

“There we are”, she said out loud, not voicing those thoughts for now; she glanced back over her shoulder and saw that there was an impressively large puddle of slime on the floor where she had been standing, and that she had tracked quite a bit of it over the floor on the way back to Erin’s room, making a mental note to spread it a bit so nobody might follow the tracks and give them grief as she pushed Erin back inside.

Grimacing, she realized that she would get slime on Erin when she’d lift her out of the wheelchair and back into bed; she voiced these concerns to Erin, who smiled and shrugged, then reassured her that it was okay and that she could stay in the wheelchair until Holtzmann had cleaned up.

“It’s really okay”, she added at the doubtful look Holtzmann gave her, “I’m not in pain, I’m fine. Go shower this gunk off and then you can help me back into bed.”

“Alright then”, Holtzmann agreed after a moment, figuring that this made more sense than getting slime all over Erin and then putting her in bed like this; and so, she turned towards the bathroom, only to stop and look back when Erin said her name.

“Thank you”, the physicist said, the way her gaze softened making Holtzmann’s heart skip a beat, “for staying here. For helping me like this. And… especially for taking that slime bath for me.”

“Nothing to thank me for”, Holtzmann replied, trying to add a charming wink, but feeling her cheeks heat up and realizing that she was blushing, forced to hold back a groan; thankfully, Erin didn’t comment, but just smiled a bit wider, and after smiling back at her for a second, Holtzmann hurried into the bathroom, trying to calm her racing heart, quite affected by the way Erin had looked at her.


	10. Chapter 10

“You did what?” Abby squawked early in the next day, staring at Holtzmann and Erin, eyes wide, “Holtz! That was not what I meant when I said you should get a look at the ghost! What if it had attacked you! Erin is still healing!”

“Well, I almost got slimed”, Erin said, gesturing at the small puddle of the stuff which had dried next to the bed, Holtzmann having removed the tracks leading to her room, but apparently having missed that one, “but Holtz was fast enough and kind enough to shield me. So part of the video I made is now Holtzmann’s legs, but we did get the ghost on tape, look here.”

She grabbed the camera and used the replay function to show Abby the video; Abby watched in silence, fascinated by the floating figure, grimacing though when the ghost turned around and did her face change thing, the ghost’s shriek and Erin’s squeal clearly audible before Holtzmann blocked the view, oddly wet, splattering sounds showing that the slime shower had started.

“Wow”, Abby breathed, impressed, “that’s an amazing recording, good job Erin and Holtz. And we should take a sample of that slime, I’ll check it out in the lab, maybe we can figure something out from it…”

“Is it gone?” Holtzmann wanted to know in response, remembering her thoughts from the previous night and the strange lack of reaction from anyone at the hospital to the noise which certainly had been audible at least on their floor, if not through more of the building, “the slime outside I mean? There was a literal puddle on the floor yesterday.”

“It’s gone”, Abby confirmed, making the engineer frown again, “there was no trace of it outside. If you hadn’t shown me that video, I never would have known anything happened in that hallway last night.”

“Huh”, Holtzmann let out, her frown deepening, “this is… weird. The ghost made quite the noise before she started spewing slime, Erin yelped, too, you can hear it on the tape, and it wasn’t exactly quiet. Nobody showed up though, but then somebody cleaned up the slime after we’d gone back into the room? You’d think a hospital would show concern when someone screams there in the middle of the night and then when random gross green goo appears on the floor.”

“Very true”, Erin had to agree, realizing that Holtzmann was right, and judging from the frown on Abby’s face, the researcher agreed, “and she did scream quite loud, someone must have heard it.”

“You think the staff is in on it?” Abby pondered, making Holtzmann grimace as she didn’t like that idea the slightest – especially not since she liked and respected Patty, and knew that these feelings would vanish if it’d turn out that the doctor had actually known about the haunting, “and try to cover it up? It certainly wouldn’t be good for the hospital’s reputation.”

Erin grimaced as well at that idea, liking the thought as little as Holtzmann did; the ghost hadn’t actually hurt them, and hadn’t tried to, but she figured that this didn’t make the apparition completely harmless, and didn’t mean that the ghost wouldn’t actually attack someone sooner or later.

“Well, we have to do something”, she said out loud, making the other two women nod, “what if she’s dangerous? She didn’t do much yesterday, except for the sliming, but… She might, at some point.”

“We have to find out if Patty knows”, Holtzmann decided, making Abby nod, “if she does, I dunno what we’ll do. And if she doesn’t, she might be willing to help us.”

“I don’t think she’s in on it”, Erin pondered, shrugging at the questioning look Abby gave her in reply, “don’t ask me why, I just… She seems so professional, but also nice, I can’t imagine her helping to cover something like this up.”

“I agree”, Holtzmann said after a moment, making Erin smile at her, Abby taking note of the way the physicist’s gaze softened the moment her eyes met Holtzmann’s and fighting the urge to curiously raise an eyebrow, still remembering well what it meant when Erin looked at someone like that, “she seems too nice to do something like that. Maybe we should just show her the video and see how she reacts.”

“That’s a good idea”, Abby agreed, Erin nodding as well, the researcher taking note of how she looked at Holtzmann a few more seconds before her gaze moved to her, “she might be good at faking being nice, but I don’t think one can fake a genuine reaction to a ghost. When she comes here to check on you, Erin, we should show her.”

“Good plan”, Erin agreed, Holtzmann nodding as well, “and then take a close look how she reacts. If she’s not an amazing actress, we’ll know if she knows or not.”

Now that they had a plan, small and vague as it was, they all felt better; Abby took a moment to collect a sample from the dried up slime on the floor, then asked Holtzmann how it had felt to get the stuff all over her, the blonde grimacing in response.

“Gross”, she then said, Erin making a face as well in sympathy, “it was cold, and sticky, and it went everywhere. I was lucky Erin has a bathroom of her own here, or I never would have been able to wash it off.”

“The perks of having good insurance”, Erin said with a little shrug, making Holtzmann snicker and nod; Abby smiled as well, noticing once more how Erin looked at the engineer as she laughed, making a mental note to ask Erin about this the moment they’d be alone, very aware of what it had meant when Erin had looked at someone like this during their college days.

* * *

“Um, Doctor Tolan”, Erin said once Patty had finished her daily check on her, “do you have another minute? There is something we want to show you.”

“Yes, of course”, Patty gave back, sounding a bit curious; Abby cleared her throat, holding up the camera and asking her to look at the display, the doctor looking confused now, but complying, moving to Abby’s side, unaware that this positioned her so that both Holtzmann and Erin could keep an eye on her face.

“This”, Abby said, finger hovering over the replay button already, “was recorded here last night. Take a look.”

She pushed the button, and the video began, the recording bouncing a bit as Holtzmann was rolling Erin out the room; Patty frowned, but before she could question who had recorded this and why, the ghost appeared in the video, and her mouth actually fell open, her eyes going wide.

Erin and Holtzmann exchanged a look at this very genuine reaction, then they heard the ghost screech and Erin yelp; Patty clearly recognized Erin’s voice, giving her a strict look, and shaking her head when Holtzmann appeared in the frame, shielding Erin from the slime.

“Holtzmann”, she then said, giving the blonde another strict look, “please tell me you did not move poor Doctor Gilbert around like this, how did you even get her into the wheelchair? And what is that blue transparent thing?!”

“A ghost”, Erin was the one to answer her question, Patty gaping at her, but at least, she thought to herself, not laughing or telling her at once that this was bullshit, “thanks to Holtzmann shielding me, we didn’t get the ghost sliming her on tape, but Abby took a sample of the goo.”

“A ghost”, Patty repeated, blinking, “wait, like a dead person? Floating around here at night?”

“Uh-huh”, Holtzmann nodded, deciding to ignore the bit about how she had gotten Erin into the wheelchair for now, “and sliming innocent blonde engineers. Also, someone has to know, because said slime was gone this morning, and it did not vanish on its own, cause some was left in here from when I brought Erin back inside.”

“That was reckless”, Patty scolded, apparently not willing to drop that bit of the conversation yet, “she could have gotten hurt! What if that… thing had attacked you?”

“Wait”, Erin threw in while Holtzmann shrugged, giving Patty a somewhat stunned look, “you believe this is real? You believe it’s a ghost?”

“Well, I can see it on the video”, Patty pointed out in response, “and it’s all floaty and… transparent. I have no reason to believe you guys made this up somehow, so yes, I believe it.”

“Excellent”, Holtzmann said, rubbing her hands gleefully, “now we got someone on the inside, so you can help us learn more about this thing. And make sure I can stay here during the night so Erin isn’t alone.”

Patty looked as if she wanted to protest, then seemed to change her mind; she sighed, then nodded, giving Holtzmann another strict look though as she scolded her for having moved Erin out of bed and into the wheelchair all on her own.

“Don’t worry, I never would have dropped her”, the engineer reassured her, earning a doubtful look, “and I didn’t hurt her, did I, Erin?”

“She was very careful”, Erin nodded, smiling at the blonde; Holtzmann smiled back at her, and Abby fought the urge to roll her eyes, already able to see quite well where this would go, and wondering if it might complicate things for them in the near future.


	11. Chapter 11

“I’m surprised she believed us so fast”, Erin said once Patty had left the room again, “she didn’t even doubt it for a second! I mean, yeah, we’re all adults and have no reason to fake such a video, but… I didn’t expect that.”

“Me neither”, Abby admitted while Holtzmann shrugged, clearly not having doubted Patty’s willingness to believe them as much as the other two, “I was sure she would try to deny it at first, but she believed it fairly quickly. I believe though that she had no idea, her reaction was genuine.”

“Oh it totally was”, Holtzmann nodded, “I could tell, just how her mouth fell open, that wasn’t fake. She had no idea.”

Erin nodded as well, feeling a bit nervous as she thought of someone in the hospital knowing of the ghost and doing nothing about it; she wondered if this person had any plans about the apparition or was just fascinated by the fact that it existed, then pushed these thoughts aside, realizing they would all be useless speculation.

“We should find out who knows”, she said out loud, making both Abby and Holtzmann nod, “maybe Patty can help with that. And then find out why this person didn’t tell anyone, maybe they have some… unsavoury ideas about that ghost.”

“That sounds wrong”, Holtzmann grimaced, making Abby snicker while Erin cleaned her throat, “but yeah, you’re right, we should find out who knows. I got some things back at the lab which might help us find the ghost or track the source, I’ll get them while you’re at your physical therapy.”

“Good idea”, Abby said, making the blonde smile again; Erin nodded as well, curious what sort of equipment Holtzmann was talking about, but figuring that she would see sooner rather than later; she was a bit miffed at the idea of the two of them searching the hospital without her, but knew that it might be too difficult to take her along in a wheelchair, and she wasn’t secure enough with the prosthetic yet to walk with them.

Briefly, she considered asking Holtzmann if she could use the one she had made for her already, then decided against it – someone from the hospital might see after all, a patient or someone from the staff, and then they would want to know where she got that fancy robot leg, and Holtzmann had asked her to keep it secret.

So, she told herself that she had to stay behind, for the sake of the team’s efforts; surely, she told herself, Abby and Holtzmann would document their search… and then, she realized that she had thought of the three of them as a team, surprised at her own ideas, asking herself when she had started viewing the three of them this way.

A knock from the door interrupted her thoughts, the nurse who’d take her to physical therapy entering a moment later; and as Erin was brought there, Holtzmann went get the gear, excited about the upcoming ghost hunt, already looking forward to what they might find, happy she’d finally get to use the things she had built.

* * *

By the time Holtzmann came back with her duffel bag slung over her shoulder, Erin was back from physical therapy, and felt tired and drained; she perked up though when Holtzmann entered the room and put the bag down onto the chair, grinning at the physicist as she asked her if she wanted to see the goodies she had brought along.

“Of course”, Erin said at once, somewhere even finding the energy to sit up; she briefly grimaced as this made her already strained muscles protest, but didn’t lie back down, peering at the bag curiously, Holtzmann giving her another wink before she reached inside.

“Behold”, she then said dramatically, pulling an odd looking device from the bag – it reminded Erin, for some reason, of one of those machines used for making cotton candy, but she knew better than to say so out loud, Holtzmann explaining what it was a moment later anyway, “PKE meter. It’s gonna track spectral anomalies and help us locate them.”

She put the PKE meter on the bed, and Erin took the chance given, picking it up and looking at it; she could tell that it was well made, even though her field was more on the theoretical side, but just from how it laid in her hand, she knew, taking a closer look at it before Holtzmann distracted her by pulling another item from her bag.

It was hard to tell what it was, Erin realized at once, frowning at the lengthy object; there were straps dangling from it, and a sort of metal ball was mounted to one end, Holtzmann giving her another wink as she nodded at her left arm.

“This goes onto my forearm”, she then said, wiggling her fingers and reminding Erin of the fact that she had an artificial arm, something which was easy to forget as she moved so naturally, “and then, when I punch forward, it’ll shoot a proton ball, just in case the ghost does try to attack.”

“Oh wow”, Erin let out, eying the contraption with new respect now, wondering how it worked – there was no visible power source, but a closer look revealed wires on the straps, and she figured that it would somehow connect to Holtzmann’s artificial arm when she’d strap it on, “did you test that? Does it work?”

“Well, I had no actual ghost to test it on”, Holtzmann admitted, looking a bit sheepish now, “but it does shoot a proton blast, so that works. Guess I’ll find out what it does to a ghost when we encounter a malevolent one.”

Erin grimaced a bit at this, unable to hold back her worries that this contraption might not work and end up getting Holtzmann injured or maybe injuring her when malfunctioning; on the other hand though, she reasoned, Holtzmann had built an obviously fully functioning robot arm for herself and a robot leg for the physicist, so certainly, she knew what she was doing.

“Be careful”, she still said, giving the engineer a strict look when she didn’t nod or agree any other way at once, “we don’t need another one of us lying in one of those beds, all banged up.”

Belatedly, she realized that she had spoken of “one of us”, as if they were a sort of professional group doing this; neither Abby, nor Holtzmann contradicted her though, Abby just smiling at her concern while Holtzmann shrugged, then finally did promise her that she’d be careful, to her obvious relief.

“Still as careful as in the old days”, Abby then said, making Erin blush as this was the first time she brought up their shared past, “some things never change, huh?”

“If anything, I’m even more worried and nervous now”, Erin sighed, cheeks still reddened; Abby just gave her another smile though, then reached out and briefly touched her hand, Erin finding herself smiling as well, oddly touched by the fact that Abby didn’t make any other comments about their past friendship.

“Alright”, Holtzmann distracted her from these thoughts, rubbing her hands together gleefully, “Erin, I suggest you get some sleep now, you look all tired, and you should be awake and aware in case our transparent friend comes back. Abby and I will be quiet.”

Abby nodded solemnly, and Erin gave them both a brief smile as she nodded as well, once more realizing how tired and drained she felt; and even though she normally would have felt awkward at the thought of sleeping with two people in the room with her, she drifted off into sleep quickly this time, soon slumbering peacefully as Abby and Holtzmann sat next to her bed, quietly discussing what they would do, should the ghost show up again.


	12. Chapter 12

Now that Patty was in on the ghost and their little operation to observe and possibly even trap it, Holtzmann and Abby worried much less about getting caught, figuring that Patty would help them get out of any trouble; what they hadn’t expected though was for Patty to show up shortly after visiting hours had ended, without her doctor’s coat and in her civilian clothes, the tall woman shrugging at the confused looks she got when she entered the room.

“What”, she then said, sitting down on the last free chair in the room and only making the confusion of the three other woman grow, “I want to see this ghost with my own two eyes, if it’s haunting my hospital. Well, not technically mine, but you know what I mean. And also, I gotta make sure you crazy people don’t get poor Doctor Gilbert hurt with your little stunts.”

“If we’re gonna hunt a ghost together, why don’t you call me Erin”, Erin suggested, earning a bright smile from the doctor, and the offer that she then should call her Patty, “but I can reassure you that Holtz was very careful yesterday, and even shielded me from the slime.”

“Would do it again anytime”, Holtzmann promptly reassured her, making her smile again, “even though it was a bitch to wash off.”

“I don’t doubt you were careful”, Patty replied, with an odd look at Holtzmann which made Erin wonder what this was about, especially when the blonde looked a bit sheepish in response, “but Doctor Gil… Erin isn’t fully healed yet, and she might have gotten hurt despite your best intentions. So if you want to take her along ghost hunting, I will come along, too.”

Erin almost told her then that it hadn’t been planned for her to come along anyway, but noticed the look Abby shot her and closed her mouth again instead of pointing this out; if Patty noticed this silent exchange, she didn’t mention it, but just looked pleased at none of the women protesting.

“Have you done this before?” she then wanted to know, looking at them curiously, “this ghost hunting thing?”

“Erin and I did in college”, Abby replied, skilfully avoiding it to tell her what had kept them from doing so since then, “and Holtz and I have been doing it for the past years, but without much success. The tape we got is the closest we’ve ever been to actual proof that ghosts exist.”

“Huh”, Patty let out, “I guess it was lucky then that Erin was brought here after her accident? No offense, Erin.”

“None taken”, Erin replied with a shrug, making Patty smile again; then, she got up from her seat and offered to get them all coffee – “the good stuff from the doctor’s lounge and not from the vending machine”, she added, and Holtzmann’s eyes started to shine, the doctor still taking a moment to strictly tell them not to go ghost hunting without her before she left to get the coffee.

“Well, I did not see that coming”, Holtzmann said the moment the door had closed behind the doctor, adjusting her yellow glasses as if for emphasis, “honestly, when she entered, I thought for a second she’d tell us to leave.”

“Same”, Abby agreed, while Erin nodded, not having expected this either, “but hey, now, you can come along Erin! That’s good news.”

“Indeed”, Erin smiled, excited and a bit nervous, “let’s hope the ghost will show up again tonight and didn’t change her mind after we recorded her yesterday.”

Both Abby and Holtzmann agreed to this, just as excited as Erin herself was; and when Patty came back a short while later with the coffee, it was obvious that she was excited, too, the four women feeling oddly connected as they waited for the ghost to show up.

* * *

Just like during the previous night, the blue glow Erin knew well by now filled the room shortly after midnight, Holtzmann jumping up in excitement and grabbing her contraption while Abby took hold of the PKE meter; Patty looked at the item Holtzmann was holding curiously, but didn’t ask, moving to get Erin into the wheelchair instead, insisting that she’d be the one to push her.

“I’m a professional”, she added, before Abby or Holtzmann could say anything, “leave this to me.”

Holtzmann looked a bit miffed, apparently having been planning to be the one who’d push Erin; then, she shrugged it off and gave Patty a brief look, belatedly realizing that now, she would see her arm, but that there was no way to avoid it, not if she wanted to have a weapon in case the ghost would try to attack them with more than just slime.

“Alright doc”, she thus said, making Patty look at her curiously as she held up the weapon, “don’t freak out now, okay?”

“Huh?” Patty still had time to say, then Holtzmann pulled the glove off her left hand with her teeth and rolled up her sleeve, exposing the metal arm; Patty gaped, but didn’t make any noise, only watching in astonished silence how the blonde strapped the contraption to the metal, and grimaced when a few sparks flew as the wires connected.

“Okay”, she then said, taking a closer look at the engineer’s arm, “that has to be the coolest, most sophisticated prosthetic I have ever seen, and I have seen many. I’ll want to know all about it once we are done ghost hunting for the night.”

“It’s a seeecreeet”, Holtzmann sing-songed, falling silent at the look Patty shot her though while Erin giggled; then, the doctor pushed the wheelchair out the room and Erin fell silent as she saw the ghost again, once more awed by the sight, the way Patty whispered “wow” behind her showing that she felt quite similar.

“Don’t make too much noise”, Abby whispered, unable to take her eyes away from the apparition, “yesterday, she only started spewing slime when you talked to her, and I want to see where she goes.”

Erin and Holtzmann nodded in perfect unison, while Patty just kept staring at the ghost; not minding them the slightest, the woman floated down the hallway, keeping her gaze straight ahead, either not aware that they were there or, unlike the previous night, not really caring.

She kept floating, until she reached the end of the hallway, the four women stopping when she did; slowly, the ghost turned, until she was facing them, and Erin tensed, almost expecting her to shriek and start spewing slime again.

Instead, she looked at them, from one to the next, not appearing to notice when Holtzmann raised her weaponized arm a bit; she smiled, a cold, almost cruel smile, raising one finger and running it across her throat – before she seemed to fall, vanishing into the floor, not leaving a drop of ectoplasm behind this time.

“Jeez!” Abby cried, startled at this fast exit, “that was fast! And what was that gesture, was she threatening us?”

“God, I hope not”, Patty said, grimacing, “that was freaky. And where did she go? How far down? All the way to the cellar? Or even further into the ground?”

“Only one way to find out”, Holtzmann replied, nodding at the PKE meter; and in response, Abby flicked the switch, the device coming to life immediately, the small LED arms rising up and spinning with impressive speed, the four women exchanging a look before they got moving again, without another word needed.


	13. Chapter 13

The PKE meter kept spinning as the women made their way downstairs, from one floor to the next; Patty grimaced when they made it to the ground floor and it still spun, showing that they had to go even deeper, shrugging at the questioning look the other three women gave her.

“I don’t like going down there”, she then said, with an unhappy look at the elevator doors as the elevator carried them down into the basement, “it’s… creepy. Which makes sense now, if there’s a ghost hanging around here. I wonder why I’ve never seen her before…”

“We think someone from the staff is covering it up”, Erin told her, making her gasp audibly behind her, “because nobody reacted yesterday night when she did her little shrieking show before she slimed Holtz. And it was kinda loud, so… Either only people who know about it were around and didn’t react on purpose, or she somehow kept anyone who wasn’t close to her from hearing somehow.”

“I’m not sure which thought creeps me out more”, Patty said, grimacing, even though Erin couldn’t see, since she was still pushing the physicist’s wheelchair, “but if someone does know and covers it up, man, this person is gonna get their ass fired.”

“Patty”, Holtzmann gasped, making Erin smile with how scandalized she sounded, “language.”

Patty just shrugged, then pointed out that this was her time off and that she could talk as she pleased; then, the elevator doors opened and the women fell silent, Abby making a face at how dark and dingy the basement looked.

“For how fancy the upstairs is, this part is really a step down”, she said, glancing around, realizing they were on the right track though as the PKE meter started to spin even faster, “but looks like we’re on the right way. Holtz, this thing is going kinda fast, it’s not gonna explode, is it?”

“Nah”, Holtzmann gave back, not sounding concerned at all; this didn’t seem to calm Abby down fully, judging from how she held the PKE meter at arm’s length, but she didn’t try to deactivate it, even though her concern only grew when it started to spin even faster.

“Look”, Erin whispered, pointing to something up ahead, and prompting Abby to look up from the device; she saw the telltale blue glow and felt her heartrate speed up, Erin feeling quite similar, fighting the urge to fidget in the wheelchair as Patty pushed her closer to the glow.

They rounded a corner and the glow intensified, showing they were on the right track; the PKE meter spun so fast at this point that it was making an unpleasant high-pitched noise, and Erin suddenly regretted they hadn’t thought of the camera, realizing how close to the ghost and a possible source for it they were.

And just as she had this thought, the ghost practically popped into existence a few feet away, and Erin had a second to wonder if she had been hiding there, had been waiting for them to be close enough… and then, everything happened very fast, and everything became a blur to her.

The ghost let out a shriek again, then rushed at them; Erin had a second to wonder if she would actually be corporeal enough to do actual damage, then the ghost slammed into Abby, and from how Abby cried out, the impact could be felt and was quite painful.

She saw Holtzmann raise her arm, but the engineer couldn’t get a clear shot at her; and suddenly, Abby was flying, and the next thing Erin knew was that she was on the floor, the wheelchair on its side next to her, one of the wheels spinning as fast as the world now was spinning around her.

Dimly, she could hear Abby cry out again, her voice mixing with Patty’s as the doctor was shouting at the ghost; then, there was an odd sound, like a short, loud cough, and the hallway momentarily brightened up, Erin belatedly realizing that the noise had been Holtzmann using her weaponized arm.

The ghost howled, hopefully in pain and not in rage, Erin had time to think; and a moment later, she felt strong arms scoop her up, groaning at the pain this sent through her still not fully healed body.

“Sorry”, she heard Holtzmann apologize, momentarily surprised that it was the blonde carrying her; then, Holtzmann sprinted back towards the elevator, Abby and Patty right behind her, Erin forgetting her surprise as she clung to her, hoping that the ghost wouldn’t chase them, shocked by the nasty turn this little adventure had taken.

* * *

“Patty, I swear, I’m fine”, Erin said for what felt like the hundredth time; the four of them were back in her room, and Patty was checking her injuries, giving her a strict look at this continued reassurance that she was fine.

“You’re not bleeding anywhere, which is good”, she said, “so at least none of your stitches broke open. You got broken bones which are not fully healed yet though, I’m your doctor, and so I have to make sure you really are fine. Do you feel pain anywhere?”

“Not more than usual”, Erin gave back, earning another strict look from her doctor, “I tell you, I’m fine. The ghost didn’t actually hit me, I only fell over with the chair when Abby stumbled against it.”

“Only”, Patty repeated, shaking her head, “this could have ended much worse, you were lucky. And this was a stupid thing to do, I never should have let you come along, jeez, what was I thinking?”

“I’m fine, really”, Erin said yet again, smiling innocently at the look Patty shot her, “and come on, we saw a ghost! All four of us! And nobody got slimed this time!”

“Abby got tossed around though”, Holtzmann said, looking at her friend with concern, “you sure you’re okay too, Abberoo?”

“I won’t be if you call me Abberoo again”, Abby dryly replied, raising one finger before Holtzmann could reply, “and don’t tell me now that it rhymed, I know it did, but I still don’t like it. But yes, I’m fine.”

“We better make sure you are”, Patty said, apparently satisfied with Erin’s state, “come with me, and no talking back!”

“Okay, okay”, Abby said, raising her hands before she got up from her seat; she left the room together with Patty, and the moment the door had closed behind them, Erin looked at Holtzmann, feeling her cheeks heat up when their eyes met.

“Thank you”, she softly said, feeling a bit better when the engineer blushed a bit, too, “for getting me out of there, I couldn’t have done it on my own. You might have saved my life.”

“Eh, nothing to thank me for”, Holtzmann gave back, with a wave of her hand, “if the ghost had knocked me over, Abby would have done the same, come on, we wouldn’t have just left you there.”

“Still”, Erin replied, feeling brave all at once, and making use of this bravery by reaching out and grasping Holtzmann’s hand, glad when the engineer didn’t pull back, “you helped me when many others just would have run off. So, thank you.”

In response, Holtzmann put her other hand over Erin’s, the metal of her artificial hand cold on Erin’s skin; the physicist didn’t mind though, smiling at her at the surprisingly gentle touch, Holtzmann returning the smile at once, feeling her skin tingle where Erin was touching her and wondering if it felt the same way for Erin.


	14. Chapter 14

As it turned out, Abby was indeed fine, just a few bruises from when the ghost had slammed into her; and the moment they came back to Erin’s room, Patty’s gaze focused on Holtzmann’s artificial hand, the engineer fidgeting a bit at her intense gaze.

“Okay”, the doctor said, clearly fighting the urge to take hold of the blonde’s hand for a closer look, “our doc is one of the specialists when it comes to making prosthetics. One of the best in this country, actually. And still I have never seen any work by him as finely done as this. Who made it?”

“I did”, Holtzmann replied, Patty gaping at her, “together with my mentor. And no, before you ask, it’s not a medically approved one, but it works just fine.”

“Can I take a closer look?” Patty wanted to know, Holtzmann shrugging before she nodded; she started rolling up her sleeve, then apparently decided otherwise as she unbuttoned her shirt, then pulled it off her left side, exposing her whole arm and part of her chest, Abby’s eyebrow twitching as Erin looked quite unabashedly.

The artificial arm ended at her elbow, they all saw now that her shirt was off; it had been connected to her actual arm a bit roughly, Erin could tell from the scar tissue, and she wondered if it hurt, but if it did, Holtzmann didn’t let it show, smirking a bit smug when Patty gaped at the metal limb.

“This looks like something straight out of the Terminator”, the doctor said, gingerly reaching out and touching it, then leaning in for a closer look, “and it’s fully functional?”

“Uh-huh”, Holtzmann let out, forming a fist as if for emphasis, then flexing her fingers, “and before you ask, yeah, it does hurt, sometimes. But it’s better than having no arm or one which isn’t properly functional, like most prosthetics are.”

“Wow”, Patty let out, running her fingers over the smooth metal, “I should not approve of this, because doing this was dangerous, but I’m also impressed by how well done it is. I might wanna talk to your mentor one day, if you get this technology approved, you can make a fortune.”

Holtzmann just shrugged, apparently not caring much about making a fortune; figuring that Patty had seen enough, she pulled her shirt back on and buttoned it up again, then found her glove in her pocket and put it back on, too, hiding the metal fingers from view.

“Do me a favour”, she then said, earning a questioning look from Patty, “don’t tell anyone? We kinda sorta did it in a private lab, with private help from a doc who wants to remain anonymous, so…”

“Oh of course”, Patty said at once, to Holtzmann’s obvious relief, “even though I am curious which doctor did that, it looks like delicate work which was well done.”

“Well, it might not have been fully legal”, Holtzmann admitted, making Patty raise an eyebrow, “and I don’t want the doc to get in trouble for helping me. So, thanks in advance for keeping quiet.”

“No problem”, Patty reassured her, then checked her watch and grimaced, letting them know that she should go home and get some sleep after all that excitement, especially since she’d have the morning shift in the next day.

“See you tomorrow”, she added, making the other three women nod, then giving them a strict look, “and no ghost hunting without me, you hear!”

They all nodded solemnly, Patty giving them a brief smile before she left; and even though neither Abby, nor Holtzmann liked the thought of leaving Erin alone in a haunted hospital, they realized that they had to go home, too, especially Holtzmann, who hadn’t left the building since the previous morning.

“We’ll be back tomorrow morning”, Abby promised, Erin nodding bravely, not liking the thought of being alone after what had happened, but knowing that they had to go home and not wanting to ask them to stay, after all they had done for her already, “right when visiting hours start. Take care until then, alright?”

Erin nodded again, not bothering to point out that she couldn’t do much all on her own anyway; Holtzmann and Abby both gave her a reassuring smile, then Holtzmann took a moment to check beneath the bed, making sure the recording equipment there was untouched and still working properly.

“Looking good”, she said, winking at Erin and momentarily making her wonder if she was talking about the equipment or about her, her cheeks heating up at the idea that the blonde just had complimented her, “we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a nice evening”, Erin gave back, figuring it would be nicer than her own; and to her surprise, Holtzmann reached out and briefly touched her hand, then left together with Abby, Erin looking after them long after the door had closed behind them, skin still tingling where the engineer’s fingers had touched her.

* * *

Once again, Erin spent some time with reading after she had eaten dinner, until she couldn’t stop yawning; still she made herself finish the chapter, then put her bookmark between the pages and got comfortable, switching off the light and looking up at the ceiling for a while.

She thought back to the ghost, to how vicious the apparition had been when it had attacked them down in the basement; she never would have thought that a ghost actually could throw a person over the way it had happened to Abby, and the thought worried her, as she realized how dangerous the ghost might end up being, if it was capable of hurting people.

Belatedly, she realized that she hadn’t asked Holtzmann if her weapon actually had been useful against the ghost, making a mental note to bring this up in the next morning; then, she yawned again, and figured she should get some sleep, rolling over and getting as comfortable as it was possible with her still not fully healed injuries.

It didn’t take long until she drifted off into a light doze, not fully asleep yet, after all the evening’s excitement; and so, Erin was still awake when the door to her room opened, lying with her back to it yet again, her mind not fully registering that someone was entering her room though, half asleep as she was.

Only when a firm hand clamped down over her mouth, she realized that someone was in her room with her, and her eyes snapped open, a muffled, frightened noise escaping her as whoever was there with her grabbed her around the waist with their other arm and pushed her down.

“Stay away from the basement”, a harsh voice whispered, making it more difficult to recognize the owner, should they speak at a regular volume, part of Erin’s mind was still rational enough to realize, “or I’ll cut your other leg off, too.”

The hands vanished from her body, and hurried footsteps moved from her bed to the door; not daring to look, Erin stared straight ahead at the opposite wall, her heart racing in her chest as she breathed heavily, trying to figure out who this had been and what she was supposed to be about the all too clear threat this person just had made to her.


	15. Chapter 15

As they had promised, Abby and Holtzmann came back in the next day, entering her room right when visiting hours had started; and at once, Erin decided to tell them what had happened, figuring that they had a right to know and that she didn’t want to deal with what had happened on her own.

“Someone came in here last night”, she said, somewhat blunt, but not wanting to beat around the bush, “and told me not to go back to the basement, or… they’d cut off my other leg, too.”

_“What?!”_ Holtzmann barked, while Abby could only stare, shocked by the level of violence of this threat; and once again, Erin was touched and relieved by how unconditionally the two believed her, not wasting a second with asking her if she was sure it hadn’t been some exceptionally vivid nightmare.

“They whispered, to keep me from recognizing the voice probably”, she added, “I’m not even sure if it was a man or a woman, so that worked. Anyway… it was frightening, but it’s just more proof that someone is covering this whole haunting up, because that definitely wasn’t a ghost.”

“We have to tell Patty”, Abby decided, still looking shocked, while Holtzmann appeared more angry now than as stunned as her friend, “she has to know about this, she might work with this person and have no idea! Jeez…”

“Yeah, we have to tell her”, Holtzmann agreed, flexing her fingers, “and if we figure out who this is, I’ll punch them for threatening you like this. With my left hand.”

“Ouch”, Abby said, making Erin smile a bit, the physicist not wanting to imagine how it would feel to get punched with a metal hand; Holtzmann’s anger touched her, which was a bit odd, but then, she told herself, it had been quite a while that someone had gotten angry on her behalf, and so, it probably was just natural to feel touched by this display of strong emotion.

“I want to go down there again”, Erin said, distracting herself from these thoughts and keeping Holtzmann from dwelling further on her anger, “and see what this person wants to hide from us. It has to be something connected to the ghost, I just know it.”

“Yeah, we should not let this creep scare us off”, Holtzmann agreed at once, Abby nodding as well, “but we should be prepared, so it won’t end in disaster like last time. Erin, how’s the physical therapy coming along?”

“Quite well, I think”, Erin gave back, suddenly feeling giddy as she realized where this might lead, “at least the doctor said so.”

“Good”, Holtzmann nodded, then bent down and picked up the duffel bag Erin knew quite well by now; and her giddiness only grew when the engineer pulled out the artificial leg, giving her an apologetic look afterwards.

“I modified it to your measurements”, she let her know, already getting up from her chair, “but I’m not a doctor like the one who connected my arm for me, but it should work well enough even without that. If you’re willing to try, that is, I’m not gonna force you.”

“I am”, Erin said at once, momentarily wondering what it would be like to have it connected, as Holtzmann had put it, then shrugging those worries off for the moment, “I’m very willing, actually, let’s do this right away. I want to try walking around before we go down to the basement, just to make sure I won’t fall flat on my face.”

“Good thinking”, Abby agreed, while Holtzmann gave Erin an apologetic look, then pushed up the leg of her pants, exposing her leg; and even though Erin more or less had gotten used to the thought of having lost part of that limb, she still found it hard to look at it, unable to keep her gaze away though when she felt Holtzmann strap the prosthetic to her knee.

“Here”, the engineer said as she did so, Erin trying to judge how much the leg would weigh once she’d get up, feeling the weight already, “these little things here will help with using it, for now.”

She pointed out the red rubber disks connected to the prosthetic, dangling from thin black cables; quickly, those were stuck to Erin’s thigh, the engineer explaining that they would transmit signals from her muscle there to the prosthetic and would make moving easier, Erin feeling quite impressed again at how well this had been made by the blonde.

“Holtz, this looks great”, she complimented, “I can’t believe you made all of this for me, thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me before you tried it”, Holtzmann gave back, tightening the straps a bit before she asked her if it was comfortable; immediately, Erin nodded, the blonde giving her a brief smile before she took a closer look at her work.

“Alright”, she then said, apparently satisfied, “this is a test run, so don’t worry about the weight for now. I just want to make sure the sensors work the way they should, before I strap it on fully, once we know they do, it’s gonna get strapped to your waist too, that’ll make handling the weight easier.”

Erin nodded, figuring that this made sense; Holtzmann gave her another smile, then took a step back and held out her hand, Erin swallowing heavily, suddenly feeling nervous, even though she was sure Holtzmann had done a good job.

“You can do it”, Abby cheered her on, smiling brightly, “and Holtz and I will be here to grab you in case you fall.”

She nodded, telling herself that she truly could do it – she had done it before after all, during physical therapy with the prosthetic the hospital had provided her with, and she could tell that the one Holtzmann had made was better, even before getting up.

Still she took a moment for a deep breath, then slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed, amazed already by how easily the prosthetic moved with her; and then, she put her foot and the artificial one down onto the floor and stood up, Holtzmann ready to catch her, but thankfully not having to, Erin swaying a bit, but not losing her balance.

“Looking good”, Holtzmann commented, moving to her side and putting one arm around her waist to steady her, “how does it feel? Does it hurt?”

“A bit”, Erin told her, distracted from the pain though by the feeling of Holtzmann’s hand on her hip, her skin tingling where the engineer’s palm rested, “but less than the prosthetic from the hospital did. And it feels better, too.”

“Good to hear”, Holtzmann said, Abby nodding along, “try taking a step, don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall.”

Bravely, Erin nodded, then took a slow, hesitating step; clearly, Holtzmann had built the sensors well, the artificial limb moving the way it was supposed to, clacking audibly when she set the foot down onto the floor again.

Feeling more confident after this first small success, Erin took another step, and another one; Holtzmann let go of her, remained close though, ready to catch her, but Erin was moving surprisingly well already, much better than Holtzmann had dared to expect.

“Wow”, Abby clearly had noticed this as well, smiling brightly as Erin walked to the door and then back to the bed, somewhat glad that her leg wasn’t making weird robot noises as she moved, “this looks amazing, good job Holtz and Erin.”

“Okay, that’s enough for now”, Holtzmann threw in while Erin smiled happily, “we gotta strap this to your waist properly if you want to walk around more than just in here, and you shouldn’t overdo it. I’m glad it works though.”

“It’s perfect”, Erin gave back, standing on her good leg and moving the artificial one back and forth, amazed at how smoothly it moved, “thank you so much Holtzmann!”

She turned to face the engineer and, to the younger woman’s surprise, threw both arms around her in a tight hug; and after a moment, Holtzmann hugged her back, Abby watching them with a small smile on her face, glad to see Erin so happy.


	16. Chapter 16

By the time Patty showed up to do her daily check on Erin, the leg had been removed again and hidden in the duffel bag, Holtzmann not quite ready to show Patty what she had made for Erin; she had reacted well enough to the engineer’s arm, but she was involved in the process of the hospital getting Erin her prosthetic, and Holtzmann wasn’t sure how she would react to the engineer more or less taking her work from her and then doing such a good job, too.

Thankfully, Erin had agreed to keep quiet about it for now, and instead of telling Patty about the artificial leg Holtzmann had made, she told her about the nightly visitor, Patty reacting much like Holtzmann had, with shock at first, then with anger, grumbling as Erin spoke about the threat the person had made and how they had told her to stay away from the basement.

“We have to find out who this was”, she said, shaking her head, “threatening a patient like this! I’m so sorry Erin, if I had known this was gonna happen, I would have stayed here myself.”

“Well, you couldn’t know this would happen”, Erin pointed out, Patty having to agree that she was right, but still dismayed, “and if Holtz and Abby had seen it coming, they could have been here too. But that’s just more proof that someone from the hospital knows about it, maybe even is behind it…”

“Behind it”, Patty echoed, “how could one be behind a haunting? That ghost didn’t look as if she died recently, her clothing was all old-timey.”

“There are ways”, Erin gave back, frowning as she thought back to the book Abby and she had written together during their college days, remembering some of the theories they had come up with back then, during long, nightly sessions of talking, brainstorming and calculating, “theoretically, it’s possible to… strengthen ghosts, for lack of a better word. Abby and I got a few theories about this, but we never tried to see if they have practical use, for obvious reasons.”

“Huh”, Patty let out, the ease with which she accepted this once more surprising Erin a bit, especially after the reactions Abby and she had gotten during high school and college; on the other hand though, she figured, Patty had seen the ghost for herself, and had seen how dangerous it could be, and so, it wasn’t difficult for her to believe it.

“So someone had the same theories”, Patty continued, distracting Erin from her thoughts and from thinking about the past she shared with Abby, “and did… do something with them? Built something, maybe?”

“Perhaps”, Abby gave back, suddenly looking uneasy; Erin noticed the look she exchanged with Holtzmann, then the researcher cleared her throat, fidgeting as she suddenly found it hard to look Erin in the eye, the physicist’s confusion only growing at this strange reaction.

“Um, Erin”, Abby said before Erin had the chance to ask though, “there’s… something you should know. Before we continue any of this… ghost hunt.”

“Yes?” Erin gave back, Patty looking from Abby to her and back at Abby, clearly curious, “what is it?”

“Um, well”, Abby hedged, then took in a deep breath and steeled herself against possible bad reactions, even managing to hold Erin’s gaze as she continued, “I… put the book online. A few weeks ago, shortly before you had your accident. So maybe… whoever is doing this found it. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

“I helped her”, Holtzmann threw in, before Erin could react in any way to this unexpected reaction, “so if you want to yell at her, you’ll have to yell at both of us, to make it fair.”

“I don’t want to yell at anybody”, Erin told them after a few moments, Abby looking relieved, relief only growing when Erin smiled a bit, “come on, you guys have been here every day since that car hit me, even after… everything which happened in the past. I’ll owe you forever for this, both of you.”

“Naaah”, Holtzmann let out, with a dismissive wave of one hand, her cheeks colouring a bit; Erin gave her another smile while Abby let out a relieved sigh, relaxing visibly, only to grimace again a moment later as she realized what it might mean, should the culprit really be using the book for their sinister work.

“There’s quite a bit of possibly dangerous stuff in that book, if it’s used the wrong way”, she admitted, Patty frowning at hearing this while Erin made a face as well, now remembering many of the darker theories Abby and she had come up with, “and if we’re right and some person is causing this, then they are using it the most wrong way possible.”

“We have to go back into that basement”, Holtzmann decided in response, making the other women nod, “and see if we can find anything which might point us to our culprit. But if we do that, one of us will have to be with Erin at all times, just in case our friend wasn’t making empty threats." 

“Of course”, Patty agreed at once, “I can’t imagine anyone of the staff doing this, but… better to be safe than sorry. But I’m afraid Holtzy and Abby will have to do this, I can’t risk losing sleep when I have to make sure people don’t die here.”

“No problem there”, Holtzmann said at once, Abby nodding her agreement, “Abby and I can take turns, we might just need your help so we won’t get kicked out. But for now, we should go back down there.”

“I’ll get the wheelchair”, Patty said, already turning to the door; Holtzmann and Erin exchanged a look, Erin giving a barely perceptible nod, and Holtzmann cleared her throat, stopping Patty in mid-movement, the doctor giving her a curious look as she waited for an explanation.

“We might not need it”, she said, exchanging another look with Erin to make sure it was really okay before she continued, “I, uh… made something. For Erin.”

“Oh?” Patty let out, prompting Holtzmann to bend down, unzip the duffel bag and pull out the leg; Patty gasped, to the engineer’s relief not looking dismayed or even upset, but quite impressed, letting out an “oooh” as she took a closer look at the prosthetic.

“This looks amazing”, she then added, reaching out and gingerly running her fingers over the smooth metal, “you made this for her? That’s awesome, does it work?”

“Perfectly”, Erin was the one to answer that, making Patty look at her, “we only tried it for a few minutes earlier today, but it works very well. I’m really glad Holtz made it for me. Uh, no offense against the one the hospital made…”

“None taken”, Patty replied at once, “I’m glad she made it for you, too, if it works as well as her arm… can I see it in action?”

Holtzmann waited until Erin had nodded before she grabbed the extra straps; clearing her throat, she asked Erin to take off her pants so she could strap the artificial limb to her thigh and waist, Abby and Patty both turning away respectfully when Erin did as she had been asked.

“Alright”, Holtzmann mumbled, and Erin wondered if she was imagining the engineer blushing or if her cheeks really were reddening, “let’s get this onto you, shall we?”

Erin nodded, fighting a shudder at Holtzmann’s surprisingly gentle touch; her right hand was calloused and the left one felt hard beneath the glove, what with the metal fingers, but still she was tender, goosebumps forming on Erin’s arms as the engineer carefully closed the straps around her waist.

She was almost dismayed at how quickly Holtzmann got done with strapping the artificial limb to her leg, having enjoyed the touch quite a bit – it had been a while since anyone had touched her in such a tender way, the touches of her day to day life usually limited to handshakes and sometimes condescending pats on her shoulder or back from her male colleagues – but told herself not to be silly, that the engineer just had done her job and that there was no ulterior motive about her tenderness.

“Alright”, Holtzmann said, Erin doubting her own reassurances as she realized that the blonde indeed had blushed a bit, “there we go. Better pull on those pants again so nobody can see, and maybe shoes?”

“I’ll get some slippers”, Patty threw in, taking another curious look at the leg before she hurried off; and as they waited for her to come back, Erin thought back to how tender Holtzmann had been with her, holding back a smile, feeling happy and relaxed despite the danger they might soon get into once they’d go back to the basement.


	17. Chapter 17

Just like when they had tested the prosthetic in Erin’s room, Holtzmann stayed close to the physicist as they walked out of the room, ready to catch her, should she stumble or look as if she was about to fall; Patty walked behind them, keeping a close eye on the artificial limb – she knew that this was reckless, dangerous, even, but was too curious about the leg Holtzmann had built, eager to see it in action.

“Try not to let the leg drag”, she advised after she had seen Erin take a few steps during which she had done just that, “I know it hurts to fully step on it, but that’ll get better, and if you drag your leg too much, you might get used to the movement and then need even more work to correct it.”

“Uh-huh”, Erin let out, quite focused on walking; hearing the bit of strain in her voice, Holtzmann moved closer and put one arm around her waist, earning a grateful look, the engineer feeling quite concerned by the time they had made it to the elevator, due to how pale Erin had gotten and the small droplets of sweat she could see forming on her brow.

“Okay, no”, Patty said as they reached the elevator, with a critical look at the redhead, “you already look as if you’re about to collapse, I’m not letting you go down there, especially since we don’t know what we’ll find. Holtzy, you wanna stay with her? I don’t like the thought of leaving her alone, either.”

“Sure”, Holtzmann replied at once, Erin feeling bad that the engineer was going to miss any possible developments down in the basement, but also glad that she wouldn’t have to wait for them to come back all on her own; Patty showed them an empty room they could use to wait, so they wouldn’t have to sit around in the hallway, Holtzmann keeping her arm around Erin’s waist as she helped her inside and over to the bed so she could sit down.

“I’m sorry”, Erin mumbled once she had gotten comfortable and had taken the weight off her prosthetic, “I thought I’d be able to handle it…”

“Don’t be”, Holtzmann reassured her, earning a doubtful look from the physicist, one which prompted her to reach out and place her hand on the other woman’s back, “honestly, you’re doing way better than anyone could have a right to expect. You’ve only been trying this for the second time and already walked all the way from your room to the elevator!”

Erin didn’t seem convinced, but didn’t try to argue back, either; smiling at her, eager to make her feel better, Holtzmann rubbed her back a bit, Erin letting out a sigh after a moment as she glanced at her leg, a bit of the metal visible between her pants and the slippers Patty had gotten for her.

“You know”, she started, the slight tremble in her voice prompting Holtzmann to give her a concerned look, “the good thing about this accident is that I got reunited with Abby, and that we became friends. But… what happened to my leg…”

She trailed off, not sure how to put what she felt into words, how to speak of how unfair it seemed – and not wanting to offend Holtzmann, who had lost an arm at some point in the past, which certainly was worse than losing a leg, especially for an engineer, who worked with her hands all day long.

“I know how you feel”, Holtzmann told her, making her look at her, the physicist feeling a bit relieved when she saw no annoyance or contempt in Holtzmann’s gaze as their eyes met, “when I lost my arm, I thought that’s it, I’d never work again. Luckily I had my mentor to help me build this, because the hospital prosthetic… Well, let’s say it wasn’t very useful. It had hooks, which would have been somewhat badass, but not helpful for an engineer.”

Erin found herself wondering then what had happened to Holtzmann to cause such a grievous injury, but wasn’t quite sure if she could dare to ask; and so, she didn’t, but reached over and grasped Holtzmann’s hand instead, the engineer looking a bit surprised at first, then glad at the gentle touch, making Erin smile again as well.

She briefly squeezed the other woman’s hand, then pulled back, not wanting to make things awkward; and then, they sat there side by side in not uncomfortable silence, waiting for Abby and Patty to come back, curious what the two women might find in the basement.

* * *

“This place really needs to be cleaned”, Patty whispered as Abby and she snuck through the basement, as quiet as it was possible; there was no ghost this time, but the whole area still was oddly creepy, Patty’s spine tingling as she glanced into the unused rooms, not quite sure what they were looking for, but quite convinced they would know they had found it once they’d see it.

Abby nodded her agreement, glancing around as well, feeling as if something creepy was just waiting to jump them from around the corner; the basement was eerily quiet, only dripping water audible somewhere down the hall, and there was no blue glow which would signal a ghost being around, but still she felt as if someone was watching them, and felt uneasy.

“Look in here”, Patty distracted her from these feelings, gesturing at a room nearby, “this doesn’t look like it belongs to the hospital.”

Curious, Abby peered into the room, and for a moment felt oddly reminded of Holtzmann’s workbench back at their own lab; there were bits and pieces of equipment strewn around, and on the middle of the surprisingly clean table, an odd device sat, Abby frowning as she had a vague idea of what this might be.

“Keep an eye out?” she asked Patty, entering the room after the doctor had nodded; quickly, she moved over to the desk and took a closer look at the item, her frown deepening as she saw that she had guessed right even from a distance.

“What is it?” Patty called from the hallway, prompting Abby to glance back at her; the doctor looked worried, and Abby felt bad again, knowing she wouldn’t say anything now which would lessen these concerns.

“It’s a miniature cyclotron”, she told the taller woman, pulling her phone from her pocket and taking a few pictures of it, realizing she couldn’t take it along, as the culprit would then know they had found their secret laboratory, “so we were right. This is caused by some person, and on purpose, we have to figure out who is doing this and quickly, before they can cause God knows what sort of mayhem… Because if this works the way I think it does, it will only make the ghosts stronger. And then people will end up getting hurt.”

Patty grimaced, but nodded; Abby took a few more photos of the device, and of the other items on the workbench, then they left the basement together, unaware of the angry gaze following them, having been watching them the whole time they had been down there.


	18. Chapter 18

“Look at this”, Abby said a while later, back in Erin’s room, the physicist back in bed while Holtzmann was carefully putting the prosthetic back into the duffel bag, “that’s what Patty and I found in the basement. What does that look like to you?”

Both Holtzmann and Erin peered at the phone, and without exchanging a look, said “miniature cyclotron” at the exact same second, Patty raising an eyebrow, clearly impressed by this.

“I knew it”, Abby grumbled, not happy about this, “we found this down in the basement, along with a lot of other stuff. Reminded if your workbench at the lab, Holtz.”

“Only we’re not building things which make ghosts stronger”, Holtzmann pointed out, before Patty actually had to ask, “but yeah, you’re right, it does look a bit like my stuff. Maybe it’s my evil twin!”

Abby rolled her eyes at that idea, making Erin smile while Holtzmann snickered; then, they all grew serious again, all too aware of what the things Patty and Abby had found in the basement might mean.

“So we got some maniac here who builds things which attract ghosts?” Patty said it out loud, grimacing, “or which makes already existing ghosts stronger? Why would anyone do that?”

“Because they’re a maniac, like you said”, Holtzmann gave back, shrugging at the look the doctor shot her for this, “what? It’s true. That person probably has some shitty excuse for doing this, but honestly, I’m not interested in hearing it, not if it causes ghosts to hurt innocent people in a freaking hospital.”

“Good point”, Patty had to admit, “but what are we gonna do about it? I don’t think I can tell any of the higher ups, they’d need to see this ghost for themselves to believe it. And I have no idea who of our staff could be behind this, nobody seems… unstable enough.”

“Some people are great at hiding how unstable exactly they are”, Abby pointed out, making Patty grimace while both Erin and Holtzmann nodded; then, the physicist cleared her throat, fidgeting a bit as she spoke up, not surprised when the other women stared at her in shock at her words.

“Well”, she started, choosing her words carefully, “this person did come here to threaten me about staying out of the basement. So if we set some sort of trap…”

“Erin, no”, Abby protested at once, shaking her head, Patty crossing her arms over her chest and looking stern, only Holtzmann not denying her idea at once, “that’s too dangerous, we will not put you in the line of fire like this.”

“Well, I’m assuming I wouldn’t be alone”, Erin pointed out, making a face at the idea, “you guys could hide in the bathroom or something and then pop out when our culprit enters the room.”

“That’s still too dangerous”, Abby shook her head, “what if we’re too slow? I’m not risking you getting hurt even worse than you already are, you’re still healing!”

“Well, we might not have much of a choice”, Holtzmann pointed out, shrugging at the glare Abby shot her, “Erin’s right, that person did threaten her already. So our culprit might just show up again at night, to make those threats real after we went down into the basement again.”

“We have to come up with something”, Patty decided in response, making the others nod, “and with something which does not make Erin a target. Abby’s right, you’re still healing, and as your doctor, I can’t allow you to do anything so reckless.”

“I’ll stay with her”, Holtzmann said at once, making Erin smile at her again, “I was smart and brought a change of clothes. And! I’m gonna build a trap, in case our creepy friend shows their face at night.”

“A trap”, Patty echoed, making the engineer grin and nod, “alright, I’m not gonna ask. Just promise me it’s something which won’t be potentially lethal.”

“Nah”, Holtzmann gave back at once, to her relief, “just blindside them and put them out of commission for a bit. Promise.”

Patty just sighed, but didn’t try to ask for any details; and Erin was just glad that someone would stay with her and that she wouldn’t have to spend another night alone in a haunted hospital, with ghosts and a human who might want to see her hurt, giving Holtzmann a grateful smile, the engineer grinning back at her at once, both women missing the look Abby and Patty exchanged.

* * *

Once a sort of vague plan had been formed, Holtzmann left to find the utensils for her trap, Abby staying with Erin while the engineer did so and Patty having to leave, still having some work to do; it didn’t take Holtzmann long to come back, and both Erin and Abby looked confused at what she was carrying.

“Don’t look like that”, she said, smirking, “keep in mind I had to come up with this super fast and have to use what I can get.”

“Holtz”, Erin was the one to say what both Abby and she were thinking, “if this is what I think it is… are you sure it will work? We’re not living in a cartoon world, you know.”

“Just because you can’t see the coyote putting up elaborate traps for the roadrunner, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, out there in the desert”, Holtzmann argued back, Erin blinking in surprise while Abby snickered, knowing this line of reasoning very well from her friend and colleague, “and yes, it will work. And it won’t kill our culprit, so Patty’s gonna be happy too. Win-win!”

“Not for our mystery maniac”, Abby pointed out, while Holtzmann started pouring the bag of talcum powder she had found God knew where into the plastic bucket she had brought, doing so slowly so the stuff wouldn’t puff up and go everywhere, “but I agree with you, I think it will work. Simple, but effective, a true classic.”

“Of course it will work”, Holtzmann told her at once, finishing filling the bucket with powder, “the bucket will stun them, and the powder will keep them from seeing anything, and we’ll have time to overpower them.”

“Just make sure you don’t put it up too early”, Erin advised, “we don’t want to stun and blind the nurse which will bring my dinner. Not to mention that the powder would ruin said dinner for me.”

“Eh, it’s hospital food”, Holtzmann replied with a shrug, earning a strict look from the physicist, “it might be improved. But yeah, I’ll put it up after your dinner has been served.”

“Thank you”, Erin said dryly, making Abby snicker at her tone; Holtzmann winked at her, then Abby stated that she would head out then, figuring that, after the way she had noticed Erin and Holtzmann were looking each other, it couldn’t hurt to give them some time alone.

“Take care until tomorrow guys”, she added, rising from her seat, “and if you do catch our culprit, don’t do anything dangerous or reckless, you hear me?”

“I would never”, Holtzmann solemnly replied, Abby just having to give her a look to show how much she believed that; Holtzmann grinned back at her with perfect innocence, Erin giggling at this silent exchange, then telling Abby she’d see her tomorrow, smiling when the researcher nodded at once.

They still hadn’t spoken about their shared past, about what she had done to Abby, and she still felt that this should be brought up sooner or later, if only so she could apologize; for the moment though, she just was happy to have her friend back, and to have gained new friends with Patty and Holtzmann, too, feeling good and confident despite the danger all four of them might be in after what they had discovered in the basement.


	19. Chapter 19

After Erin’s dinner had been brought and the physicist had eaten – without incident, neither from a trap set too early nor from the nurse trying to get Holtzmann to leave, the two women figuring that Patty had told the staff it was okay for someone to be with Erin after hours – Holtzmann moved to put up the trap; Erin watched her with slight concern as she stood up on a chair so she could reach the top of the door, the bucket wobbling a bit as she balanced it on her hands.

“Be careful”, she said after having watched this for a while, Holtzmann shifting back and forth on the chair as she tried to find the perfect spot for the bucket, “don’t fall, we don’t need another person with broken bones in a hospital bed.”

“Eh, I’ll try to land on my left arm”, Holtzmann gave back, Erin raising an eyebrow, “that can only bend, not break, and I can fix it with a hammer.”

“That would still hurt though, wouldn’t it”, Erin pointed out, relieved when Holtzmann finally deemed the bucket properly placed and hopped off the chair, taking another critical look at her work from the ground afterwards, “and I don’t want you to get hurt in any way. So I’m glad you’re off that chair now, without falling on any arms or legs.”

Holtzmann gave her a grin and a wink in response, moving the chair back to the side of the bed and sitting down there; Erin gave her another smile, then let out a small sigh, shrugging at the questioning look Holtzmann shot her in response.

“I just don’t like this”, she then said, nervously starting to play with the hem of her blanket, “having to sit around and wait like this, for some maniac who threatened to maim me even further than I am already.”

“No one’s going to maim you, or hurt you any other way”, Holtzmann reassured her at once, making her smile a bit again, “I’ll be here with you all night and I won’t let anyone hurt you. My metal hand packs a mean punch, you know.”

“I imagine”, Erin gave back, eying said hand; as always, Holtzmann was wearing her thin leather gloves, hiding the artificial limb from view, and once again, Erin found herself wondering how this had happened, but didn’t dare ask, still not sure that she knew Holtzmann well enough to ask about such a dramatic event from the engineer’s past.

“It was a lab incident”, Holtzmann said, answering the unasked question, Erin blinking in response as she found herself wondering if her thoughts had been so clearly visible on her face, “how I lost my arm, I mean. I had been accepted into CERN, right after I got my PhD, and it looked like I’m set for life, but unfortunately, a colleague wasn’t quite as attentive as he should have been. There was a big poof, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital with half an arm less.”

She remembered a bit more of the incident than what she just had revealed, but figured that Erin didn’t need to know the gruesome details, didn’t need to be told about how she had still been conscious at the lab for a short while, long enough to see the bloody mess which had been left of her arm, long enough to feel one of the other scientists put a tourniquet on her to lessen the flow of blood… but apparently, Erin saw some of these things in her eyes, or had heard them through her voice, the physicist reaching out and grasping her good hand, squeezing it gently.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this”, she said, earning a somewhat wry smile from the engineer, “having gotten into CERN and then something like this, you must have been devastated.”

“Yeah it was tough, especially at first”, Holtzmann admitted, figuring that she might as well be honest about her experience and that it might help Erin to deal with what had happened to her, knowing that she wasn’t alone and that it was perfectly normal to feel sad and angry about what had happened, “when I had no idea yet I’d get a proper prosthetic. The one from the hospital was bearable, but I wouldn’t have been able to do much work with it.”

Erin squeezed her hand again, not sure what she could say; to her relief, Holtzmann gave her another smile, not appearing all too upset by this trip down memory lane, raising her hand and flexing her fingers as if to underline her next words, the physicist smiling as well at them.

“Luckily, my mentor from MIT had heard what had happened, and the woman is a true genius”, Holtzmann let her know, lowering her hand again, “she came visit me at the hospital, took one look at the prosthetic, shook her head and clucked her tongue the way she always does when I do something to annoy her, and then she matter-of-factly told me we’d make a proper new arm for me once I’d be allowed to go home. And here I am now.”

“And I’m glad you’re here”, Erin said, despite how she made herself blush with admitting this; belatedly, she realized that she was still holding Holtzmann’s hand, but didn’t quite feel like letting go already, and to her relief, Holtzmann didn’t pull back, either, smiling at her at what she just had said.

“Well, I’m not gonna let you get hurt”, the engineer told her, Erin clearing her throat in response as this wasn’t the only reason she was glad Holtzmann was with her; before she could find a way to put this into words though, heavy footsteps approached her door, then stopped in front of it, and both women froze, Erin barely noticing how she held on tighter to Holtzmann’s hand.

She had a second to realize that Holtzmann would have to overpower the unknown culprit on her own, with Abby and Patty gone and Erin herself having no way to get out of bed without her prosthetic; and then, the door was pushed open, and the bucket came down.

“Argh!” they heard the man who had entered yelp as the powder clouded up around him, getting into his eyes and mouth, making him spit, “I can’t see!”

He started rubbing at his ears, to Erin’s amazement; at the same time, he spat and coughed and hacked, while Holtzmann let out what could only be described as a battle cry and charged the man, even though he was easily more than a head taller than her, and quite well built.

And then, Patty’s voice could be heard from down the hall, just as Holtzmann slammed into the surprised guy and, to Erin’s amazement, managed to drive him back out of the room and into the hallway.

“Holtzy, no!” the doctor was shouting, running down the hall to stop her before she could maybe get the idea to hit the man, “that’s not our guy! That’s Kevin, he’s harmless!”

“What”, Holtzmann let out, letting go of the unfortunate man, who still was rubbing his ears, complaining he couldn’t see; shaking her head, Patty found a clean hanky in one of her coat’s pockets and used it to wipe the powder off of Kevin’s face, explaining that he had been wandering the hospital all day long and looking for the director, apparently thinking that this was some sort of movie set.

“I would have thrown him out hours ago”, she added, annoyed, “but all the other female doctors were swooning over him.”

She rolled her eyes, while Erin leaned forward in her bed to get a good look, understanding fairly quickly why the other women were swooning over this guy – he was tall and muscular, after all, and with a handsome face, even though said face covered in powder now, Patty still trying to wipe it off while Kevin himself was complaining that this hadn’t been in the script.

“There’s no script, you big dumdum”, Patty told him, shaking her head, while Holtzmann was snickering at the man’s obvious stupidity, “come on now, it’s time for you to go, you’ve been here all day. This is not a TV set!”

“Aw”, Kevin let out, blinking as he still had powder caked around his eyes, despite Patty’s best efforts, “I didn’t get the part then?”

“…no, you didn’t”, Patty said, prompting him to pout adorably; she rolled her eyes again, then took his arm to lead him off, while Holtzmann returned to Erin’s room and started to get the trap back up, figuring that, if the culprit should still show up after all, they’d better be prepared, even though she was quite sure at this point that their unknown maniac wouldn’t show their face anytime soon.


	20. Chapter 20

“I guess our culprit isn’t showing up anymore”, Erin sighed a few hours after Kevin’s unexpected visit to her room, “you might as well get some sleep, Holtzmann, if they still do show up, the bucket is gonna make enough noise to wake me and I can scream to wake you. I don’t sleep as deeply here as I do at home so…”

“I’m not tired”, Holtzmann replied with a shrug, “so I can keep you company a bit longer. Unless you want to sleep, then I can keep myself busy in a quiet, non-annoying way.”

“I’m not tired, either”, Erin told her, earning a bright smile, “not yet, at least. Now that I’m not doped up on painkillers all the time anymore, I’m not constantly drained, either, thankfully.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere”, Holtzmann smiled, making the redhead smile again as well, “so we can talk a bit if you like. Or play cards, I’m sure I can get a deck of cards somewhere in this place."

“Talking is fine”, Erin said at once, not wanting Holtzmann to go off in search of playing cards; to her relief, the engineer accepted this at once, smiling and nodding her agreement, then leaning back into her chair again and getting comfortable, looking relaxed and content, and Erin blurted out the words before she could stop herself, figuring it was now or never.

“Thank you”, she said, earning a confused look from Holtzmann, “for… doing all this. Being here all this time, even making the prosthetic for me… You didn’t know me before Abby got the call, you had no reason to care.”

“Well, you were Abby’s friend”, Holtzmann gave back with a small shrug, not quite sure where this was coming from now, but figuring that it had been on Erin’s mind for a while now, “and while you guys maybe hadn’t been talking, she still cared enough to come here, and I couldn’t let her do it alone.”

“And that is very kind of you”, Erin told her, cheeks heating up as it always made her nervous to speak about her emotions, but she wanted to get this out into the open, figuring that Holtzmann deserved to be told, “but… Abby had no real reason to care, either, you know. Not after what I did to her. She probably told you all about it, so…”

“Not much, actually”, Holtzmann said, earning a surprised look from the physicist, “she said that you guys had… a falling out in college, gave me the book to read, and I could tell it hurt her to talk about it, so I didn’t ask.”

“Oh”, Erin let out, somewhat surprised – she had been sure that Abby would’ve told Holtzmann terrible things about her, about what she had done, and the knowledge that Abby hadn’t done this only made her feel worse.

“And you don’t have to tell me, either”, Holtzmann added, having picked up on how Erin’s mood had darkened, “I can tell it’s not easy for you to even think of it, and I don’t want to make you hurt. I don’t need to know this to be your friend, alright?”

“You should know though”, Erin mumbled, fingers moving to play with the hem of her blanket, a nervous habit she’d had ever since she had been little, “you know that Abby and I wrote that book together, so… Yes, we did. We published it, we were ridiculed, but she was determined to pull it through. I… I didn’t have the strength she had, the resilience, and so, when we were supposed to give an interview about it, for a campus TV station, I… I ran. I abandoned her.”

She fell silent and swallowed heavily, feeling as guilty and ashamed as if it just had happened yesterday; feeling bad for her, Holtzmann reached out and grasped her hand, glad when the redhead didn’t pull back, even though this time, she didn’t let her fingers curl around the engineer’s in response, but just had her hand in the other woman’s grasp limply, unlike the other times they had done this.

“And I never told her how sorry I am”, she continued, voice trembling as she had to fight back tears now, “not even when she came here after I got hit by that car… And she did come here, she had no reason to, not after what I did, and still she…”

“Hey”, Holtzmann said, a bit alarmed now at how fast Erin’s breath was getting, “Erin, honey, don’t do that, don’t get so upset, you’re still healing, that’s not healthy. Come here…”

She got up from her seat and moved to hug the other woman, glad when Erin didn’t try to pull away from her; and after a moment, Erin not only just let her hug her, but clung to her tightly, Holtzmann feeling her shudder as she held her close.

“I have to tell her”, Erin half said, half whimpered, “tell her how sorry I am… but I don’t dare, what if that will make her hate me again and she’ll leave, then you’ll leave, too, and I’ll be all alone here…”

“I don’t think she ever hated you”, Holtzmann tried to reassure her, rubbing soothing circles on her back, “she wouldn’t have been so fast to come here if she ever had. Tell her, I promise she won’t leave, and neither will I.”

Erin didn’t say anything in response, but Holtzmann felt her nod against her shoulder; and so, she didn’t speak up again, either, but just kept holding her, rubbing her back soothingly, trying to give her the comfort she so obviously needed.

* * *

Quite a while later, both women had fallen asleep, Holtzmann in her chair and not quite comfortable and Erin, exhausted after the emotional turmoil, in her bed; while her body barely hurt anymore, her soul had been aching after what she had told Holtzmann, but the engineer’s gentle embrace had been like a painkiller for her mind, and she slumbered peacefully now, no dark images disturbing her dreams.

Holtzmann was snoring quietly, not loud enough to disturb Erin, but loud enough to have it be audible in the quiet room; if she had been a bit louder, Erin might have heard, and might have woken up when the rhythm of her snores changed, became quicker, showing that her sleep wasn’t as easy as Erin’s.

She shifted a bit in the chair, would have tossed and turned, had she been in a bed; and as she twitched in the seat, images flooded her mind, brought back up from where she usually kept them well stowed away by what she had told Erin earlier that day.

She was back at CERN, back at the lab, working with a man who didn’t want her to be there; he wasn’t outright rude to her, but she could tell, from how he looked at her, from how his conversations with his male colleagues stopped when she came near, from the short answers he gave her whenever she had a question.

He never said anything to her directly, but she could tell; she didn’t let it bother her, she was used to it from high school and college, being the weird eccentric one, and she was convinced to show him that she could do this job as good as any man could.

Then she was taken back to the moment the machine had blown up, had torn off her arm, and he was there, right by her side, tying the tourniquet around her arm, telling her to hold still as she screamed in shock and pain, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

_ I’m sorry, Jillian. _

“Holtz”, a voice mixed with his as he apologized over and over, “Holtz! Holtzmann, wake up!”

She opened her eyes as she jerked in her seat, flailing in an attempt to not fall off; her left arm hit the armrest, and the lance of pain this sent through her upper arm to her shoulder made her groan, but tore her out of the nightmare fully.

“Oh no”, she heard Erin say, finally realizing where she was and that she wasn’t back at CERN, bleeding onto the lab floor while screaming, “Holtz, poor you, are you alright?”

“…fine”, Holtzmann mumbled, moving her right hand to rub her left upper arm, in an attempt to soothe pain, “just… a bad dream. Sorry for waking you…”

“It’s alright”, Erin reassured her at once, and even though it was somewhat dark in the room, Holtzmann could see her blush at what she said next, “um… a bad dream, huh? You… you want a hug? It helped me when you hugged me…”

Holtzmann nodded at once, then moved over to the bed; and immediately, Erin embraced her and held her close, rubbing her back just as Holtzmann had rubbed hers earlier, the engineer letting out a small sigh as the last few bits and pieces of the nightmare faded from her mind and were replaced by a warm, content feeling.


	21. Chapter 21

In the next morning, Holtzmann felt quite drained and tense, after a night she had spent sleeping in a chair, but still was glad she hadn’t left Erin alone; their unknown culprit had been smart enough to stay away during the night, and after her nightmare, they both had slumbered peacefully through the rest of the night, Erin looking much more refreshed and well-rested though, compared to Holtzmann.

“You should go home and get some sleep”, Abby advised as she handed her the cup of coffee she had brought, eying the dark rings beneath her eyes, “you look as if you haven’t slept all night.”

“Well, I did sleep”, Holtzmann gave back, grateful for the coffee, interrupting herself by taking a long sip from it before she continued, “but, and I never would have thought I’d say this, I’m too old to sleep all night in a chair. My back is all tensed up.”

“You should go home”, Erin told her, feeling bad as she had been the main cause for Holtzmann losing sleep, “and get some sleep, poor you.”

“Eh”, Holtzmann gave back, with a dismissive wave of her hand, “sleep is for the weak. And Abby brought me strong coffee, I’ll be fine.”

Erin raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t try to talk her out of it, secretly glad that Holtzmann wouldn’t go home; the engineer smiled and winked at her, then gulped down half of the coffee at once, letting out a content sigh afterwards.

“You’re a life saver”, she told Abby, earning a smirk from her friend, “that coffee is just right, thank you. Our creepy friend didn’t show their face during the night by the way, they probably figured out that Erin wouldn’t be on her own after the threats they made against her.”

“Yeah, we could have guessed that our culprit would be smarter than that”, Abby sighed, “but that makes finding them much more difficult. When Patty is back, I want to go back to the basement, and take another look at the stuff there.”

“Good idea”, Erin agreed at once, “but Patty won’t let me come along again, I just know it. Not that I blame her, I was in no state for anything dangerous yesterday…”

“I’ll stay with you”, Holtzmann said immediately, not surprising Abby the slightest, but earning a delighted look from the physicist, “we can practice a bit with your leg if you want?”

“Sure”, Erin nodded without a moment of hesitation, “that would be great, I wanna get used to it quickly, so I don’t have to use the hospital prosthetic for too long. It’s alright, but not nearly as comfortable and well working as the one you made for me.”

Holtzmann beamed at this praise, and Abby had to roll her eyes at how cheesy the two were, and at the same time oddly oblivious about the fact that the feelings which obviously were developing were not one-sided; before she could ponder this further though, Erin cleared her throat, the sudden nervous look on her face showing Abby at once that something was bothering her.

“Abby”, she said, fingers moving to play with her blanket, another clear sign that she was nervous, “I, um… there’s something I have to tell you. Holtz, would you…?”

Holtzmann nodded immediately, declaring that she would get more coffee and find Patty before she left the room; and the moment the door had clicked shut behind her, Erin took in a deep breath, then looked up to meet Abby’s eyes, her sudden sincerity taking Abby aback, the researcher not asking her though what was going on, but giving her time to find the right words herself.

“I’m sorry”, Erin blurted out after a moment, all her carefully prepared words forgotten the moment she opened her mouth, “I… I told Holtzmann yesterday, about what I did to you and… I shouldn’t have waited this long to apologize, especially after how kind you’ve been to me ever since this hospital called you. I’m truly sorry Abby…”

“It’s alright”, Abby told her at once, the ease with which she forgave her prompting Erin to gape at her, not quite having expected this, having been somewhat sure that Abby would tell her she’d only be around until Erin would feel better and then get out of her life again, “it’s in the past, and when the hospital called… I’m not sure if they told you, but they weren’t even sure you’d make it, for a while. That… sort of put things in perspective, you know? There’s no use in holding on to old grudges. But… I appreciate the apology, thank you for that.”

Erin smiled weakly, glad that she had been forgiven so thoroughly and so easily; she felt much less guilty about what she had done now, and was glad that she had told Holtzmann the previous evening, and that Holtzmann had encouraged her to apologize.

“Thank you”, she still said, fingers stilling as some of her nervousness faded away now, “that means a lot. And the fact that… that you came when they called you, you could have ignored it, shrugged it off as a mistake the hospital made, I don’t know…”

“I thought it has to be a mistake at first”, Abby admitted, Erin’s cheeks heating up in response as by now, Abby certainly had noticed it hadn’t been – after all, Holtzmann and she had been there all day long, every day since she had ended up at the hospital, and certainly had noticed that no one else had come to visit her during all this time.

“It wasn’t”, Erin still admitted, even though this made her blush deepen as she realized that she now would have to admit how lonely the years since she had abandoned Abby had been, “I… never got close enough to anyone to change it, and I figured it would never be needed anyway. I had a cushy professor job at Columbia, what could happen, right?”

She smiled a bitter smile at her own words, having been forced to realize how quickly something actually could happen; feeling bad for her, Abby reached out and took tender hold of her hand, glad when Erin smiled a slightly more genuine smile in response.

“I realized it probably wasn’t a mistake when I called your parents”, Abby said after a moment of just holding on to her friend’s hand, figuring that Erin deserved to know, even if the knowledge would hurt her, “and their reaction was… not very good.”

“No surprise there”, Erin mumbled, trying hard to hide how much this was actually hurting her – she hadn’t spoken to her parents in years, but she had been somewhat sure that they at least would care when they’d be told that their daughter had a life threatening accident, “the last time I spoke to them was… shortly after what I did to you. They told me in no uncertain terms that they have no more patience for my _antics_ and my _troubles_ , so I never bothered to change the emergency contact to them.”

In response, Abby just looked at her for a few moments – before she moved with surprising speed and pulled her into a tight hug, belatedly realizing that this might hurt her not quite healed injuries when Erin let out a gasp and hurriedly loosening her hold a bit, not pulling back though, smiling when she felt Erin relax into her embrace.

“Doesn’t matter”, she told her, rubbing her back soothingly as she held her, “if they care or not. You got me back now, and you got Holtzmann, and Patty, you don’t have to do any of this alone anymore.”

“I know”, Erin gave back, returning the hug with as much strength as she could bring up, “and thank you.”

Abby just smiled, and held her, and just like that, all the wounds from the past were truly forgiven and forgotten, and the two were best friends again.


	22. Chapter 22

While Abby and Patty went to the basement once more, Holtzmann helped Erin strap on the prosthetic again, and showed her how to do it, for when she’d have to do it alone; and once it was safely secured to her leg, she practiced by walking up and down in her room, from the door to the bed and back, delighted to realize that she was more secure with it already than she had been in the previous day.

“You’re improving fast”, Holtzmann complimented her, clearly having noticed this, as well, “good going, it looks better than it did yesterday, too. Less… stiff.”

“It feels better, as well”, Erin let her know, putting a bit more weight on her artificial limb, then getting a bit boisterous and trying to shift most of her weight from her other leg onto the prosthetic, only to realize that she had made a mistake when she felt the leg give in beneath her.

She had a second to wonder if she would damage some of her still healing body parts all over again as she realized that she was falling – and then strong arms grabbed her, kept her from falling, her breath leaving her in a startled huff at the unexpected rescue.

Almost automatically, she looked up, and her eyes met Holtzmann’s, the engineer having grabbed her just in time to keep her from ending up on the floor, and going perfectly still now as Erin held her gaze.

For a few seconds, they just looked into each other’s eyes, and Erin had time to think how oddly romantic they had to look in this pose, Holtzmann holding her in her arms like this… and then, just when she thought the blonde would lean down and kiss her, Holtzmann cleared her throat instead and carefully moved Erin up again, so that she ended up standing back on her own two feet instead of in Holtzmann’s arms.

“You better not try any stunts like that one yet”, Holtzmann said, Erin feeling a bit forlorn when the engineer let go of her fully and took a step back, “not quite ready for that yet.”

“I noticed”, Erin replied, wondering if she had imagined the moment between them or if it really had happened, “um… thanks for catching me. That could have ended badly.”

“No problem”, Holtzmann gave back, smiling a slightly crooked smile at her, “you didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

“No, I’m fine”, Erin reassured her, the engineer’s concern touching her, despite how the moment she now was quite certain had been there had ended abruptly, “I got quite the fright, but I’m not hurt. Thanks to you, so thank you again.”

Holtzmann gave her a slightly sheepish smile and shrugged it off, then suggested that, even though nothing happened, Erin might better sit down for a minute or two; figuring that Holtzmann knew what she was talking about, having lost a limb as well, she did so, raising an eyebrow in surprise when Holtzmann moved to kneel in front of her.

“Just making sure nothing got bent”, Holtzmann explained as she had noticed the look on Erin’s face, “the alloy this has been made of should withstand more than that, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. And I’ve never made a leg before, so it might react differently, compared to my arm.”

Figuring that this made sense, Erin nodded, then watched how Holtzmann pushed up the pant leg to get a good look at the prosthetic; and she found herself regretting the fact that she couldn’t feel Holtzmann’s touch as the blonde ran her fingers over the smooth, dark metal, looking closely at it to make sure everything was as it should be.

“Looks good”, Holtzmann said, pulling the fabric back down to cover up the leg and straightening up again; and just then, the door got pushed open and Abby and Patty entered, and after just one look at their faces, both Erin and Holtzmann knew that something was wrong.

“What is it”, Erin was the one to ask; Abby and Patty exchanged a look in response, as if silently deciding who would tell them, and Abby was the one to speak up, her words making Erin’s blood run cold while Holtzmann’s eyes widened behind her yellow glasses.

“We went back down to the basement, as we said”, Abby said, exchanging another look with Patty before she continued, “and… all the stuff our creepy friend had down there is gone.”

* * *

After the discovery that all the tools and devices had been removed, all four women wondered if the ghost would show up again, or if it had been tied to the items they had found in the basement somehow; and so, for this night, they all decided to stay with Erin, to keep an eye out for the ghost – and to make sure that their unknown culprit wouldn’t get the idea to attack her after all, perhaps in revenge for how they had been forced to leave the lab in the basement.

“I’ll look around the hospital after midnight”, Patty said, making the other three nod, “make sure our transparent friend doesn’t show up on some other floor and we’ll miss it. If I wear my doctor’s coat, the other staff will think I’m doing overtime and won’t wonder what I’m doing there.”

“I’ll stay with Erin”, Holtzmann told the group, not surprising any of them, but delighting Erin, “just in case our culprit does come back after all. No need to take unnecessary risk.”

“Uh-huh”, Abby let out, with an odd look at Holtzmann Erin couldn’t quite figure out the meaning of; shrugging it off, she gave the engineer a grateful smile, Holtzmann smiling back at her – which prompted another _look_ from Abby – before the researcher declared that she would stay, too.

“We can take turns sleeping”, she added, “so you don’t have to be awake another whole night in a row, Holtz.”

“Sleep is for the weak, as I said”, Holtzmann replied with a shrug, Abby affectionately rolling her eyes, but not trying to argue back, Erin figuring that this wasn’t the first time Holtzmann said this, “but yeah, we can take turns, and if our creep does show up, we can overpower him easier if it’s two of us.”

“I’ll call you in case I encounter the ghost”, Patty said, making the other women nod, “so one of you can come help, or measure it, or whatever you were planning to do about it. But I don’t want you to come along, Erin, you’re not fit enough yet, and I want one of you to stay with her no matter what.”

“No problem”, Holtzmann and Abby said in perfect unison, making the doctor smile; then, she moved to check on Erin, complimenting the work Holtzmann had done on the prosthetic once more, clearly fascinated by how well it had been made and how smoothly it was moving along with Erin’s own leg.

Just as it had been planned, she made extra rounds through the hospital after dark, and was on the lookout for the ghost, while Holtzmann and Abby stayed with Erin in her room; Patty didn’t encounter the apparition though, and nobody came after Erin, and as the night came to an end, the women wondered if there was anything they could do about the unknown culprit, if another ghost would show up at another spot soon – and how they were supposed to find out, none of them liking the idea that for now, their ghost hunting times had to over.


	23. Chapter 23

Anyone who saw Erin walk in the halls of Columbia never would have guessed that she had lost part of her leg almost six months ago.

She hadn’t worn skirts anymore since the accident, preferring pants now to keep her artificial limb hidden; and the high heeled shoes were gone too, replaced by comfortable flat ones, making walking with her prosthetic much easier than a heeled shoe would have.

Everyone knew about the accident she had had, and about what had happened to her leg; and so, for a while after her return to teaching, they all told her how much they had missed her, and how glad they were that she was back with them.

She smiled and nodded and thanked them each time they said this; before the changes her stay at the hospital had brought to her life, she might have wondered why no one of them had visited her at the hospital then, if they had missed her so much, as it was now though, she didn’t find it within herself to care, having other things on her mind.

As she made her way to her office, nodding at colleagues and students alike, she pulled her phone from her pocket – a great advantage of wearing pants with actual pockets, she quickly had realized, was that she could actually carry her phone on her person now, and didn’t need to dig through her handbag to find it.

She felt a bit disappointed when no missed calls or text messages appeared on her screen, but knew that sooner or later, something would come in; and as if these thoughts had sped up the process, the phone vibrated in her hand, and Erin smiled at the text she had gotten.

_Holtz: new equipment test today at six. Meet at the alley? :-)_

Quickly, she checked her watch, then typed her response, forcing herself to not grin at her phone like an idiot – while none of her colleagues had visited her at the hospital, some did show more of interest in her now, and might get the idea to ask her if she had gotten any good news, and she had no interest in telling them what she was smiling about, and even less about what she did in her spare time.

_Of course_ , she quickly typed her response, _I was about to head out. See you guys in a bit._

She tucked her phone back into the pocket and sped up a bit, by now walking securely on her prosthetic; eager to get to the lab, Erin only stopped by at her office to switch off her computer, then headed out, even a spring in her step now as she had something to look forward to.

“Doctor Gilbert”, she heard a familiar, but at the moment not very welcome voice call out to her, holding back the urge to groan at the delay she knew this would bring, but also knowing she couldn’t just ignore it, and so, she made herself smile as she turned to face the man who had called out to her.

“Doctor Filmore”, she replied, politely enough, but not nearly as subserviently as she had done in the past, before the accident which had changed her life, “is this going to take long? I’m having plans.”

“Oh, um, no”, the elder man said, clearly not having expected this response at all, apparently not used yet to this more confident Erin, “I was just going to let you know that we’re all set for your tenure review, next week on Thursday. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, what with no one knowing when you’d come back, but the tenure committee did make time for you after all.”

“How nice of them”, Erin replied, clearly not what Filmore had expected, since he looked a bit taken aback; Erin gave him another polite smile, then let him know they could talk more about this in the next day, if he had the time, and he just nodded, dumbstruck by her rather unenthusiastic reaction.

“See you tomorrow, then”, Erin said, with yet another smile, then turned away from him and continued her way to the exit; she could feel his eyes on her back, but he didn’t call out to her, and she found herself wondering if he would bring her behaviour up in the next day, then realized that she didn’t really care – while her job had been her life before her accident, and she still enjoyed it, it was far from as important as it had been, and the tenure she had been so eager to get before the accident now seemed like a nice bonus, but not something she absolutely needed to have.

And so, she didn’t look back as she left the building and hailed a cab; as the driver steered the car away from the university, she pulled out her phone and sent another text to the engineer, letting her know that she was on her way.

_Good,_ the reply came almost immediately, her eyes widening at what else it contained, _we got another call, equipment test postponed. Waiting for you at the lab._

Momentarily, Erin wanted to tell the driver to speed up, then decided otherwise, figuring that there was no reason to risk another accident; she fidgeted on the backseat as she typed her response and let Holtzmann know that she was in a cab already, biting her lip afterwards as she counted the seconds until the cab would stop at the lab the team shared.

Most of the time, it was just Holtzmann and Abby there, with Erin working full time at Columbia and Patty having her job at the hospital; Erin dropped by each day after work though, and Patty showed up regularly, as well, and the four women saw themselves as a highly efficient, well balanced team.

“Keep the change”, Erin told the cabbie as she handed him a twenty, then quickly got out of the cab; the movements needed for this had been difficult for her at first, with her prosthetic, but by now, she had gotten used to it, and nobody who saw her would have guessed that she had an artificial limb.

Holding back the urge to run, figuring that she should conserve her energies, if they really would go on another ghost hunt – they had received a few calls since they had formed this team, and had documented more actual ghost sightings, but hadn’t managed to trap one so far, despite Holtzmann’s best efforts.

_Maybe we will do it this time,_ Erin thought to herself as she entered the Higgins Institute of Science, nobody paying her any mind anymore at this point – at first, people often had looked at her curiously, obviously had wondered who she was, and what she was doing there, but by now, nobody batted an eye anymore, all of them having gotten used to seeing her there.

“Erin’s heeeere”, Holtzmann crowed as she entered the lab, the engineer already wearing the coveralls they all used for ghost encounters now – ghosts more often than not tended to spew slime, and after Erin had been forced to throw out the third pair of perfectly good pants, Patty had found those coveralls somewhere for them, complete with name tags and with safety boots, “Patty’s gonna meet us right there, so we better not forget her coveralls and boots. Here’s yours.”

She held the coveralls with the _Gilbert_ nametag out to the physicist, and Erin thanked her with a bright smile as she took them; then, she hurried into the lab’s washroom and quickly changed, by now not even bothered anymore by the sight of her prosthetic, as she had been the first few times she had seen it on herself.

Quickly, she put on the coveralls and the boots, then tied her hair back into a ponytail so it wouldn’t get in the way, her heart beating fast with excitement by the time she finished changing and left the room to join the other two, looking forward to this newest ghost hunt and hoping that this time, they would manage to capture one of the apparitions after all.


	24. Chapter 24

“The call came from Aldridge Mansion”, Abby informed Erin as they got into the car Patty had organized for them from her uncle, a hearse Holtzmann had modified quite a bit for their ghost hunts, even having given it a new paint job, despite Patty’s dismay about it, “the owner called, after his tour guide encountered a ghost last night and almost became one himself. Guy was lucky.”

“Poor man”, Erin showed sympathy, grimacing as Holtzmann rounded a corner a bit too enthusiastically and made the tires screech, “and poor us! Holtzmann, don’t drive like a crazy person.”

“Sorry”, Holtzmann apologized at once, Abby almost rolling her eyes in the backseat – whenever she criticized Holtzmann’s driving style, the engineer would make some sort of joke and cackle, but when Erin did it, she got an apology at once, but then, the researcher figured, this made sense, seeing how Erin had been in a car accident which almost had killed her not too long ago.

“The ghost is not gonna go anywhere”, Erin added, prompting Holtzmann to slow down further, driving with a more reasonable speed now, “especially not if our creepy friend from the hospital is behind it again.”

So far, they had found a total of three of the strange devices Abby had photographed in the hospital basement, all of them burned out so badly though that they hadn’t been useful at all anymore; Holtzmann had done her best to figure out how they had been made and how exactly they worked, but thanks to their desolate state whenever they had found one, she hadn’t been able to determine much.

“Almost there”, Holtzmann told the other two, “let’s hope Patty is already here, too.”

As it turned out, Patty was, standing on the sidewalk opposite of the impressive old mansion and talking to an elder man with thin blonde hair and glasses, a younger guy in a suit standing next to him; Holtzmann pulled up to them and killed the engine, then hopped out of the car, Erin and Abby getting out, as well, Patty introducing them to the man she had been talking to, the owner of the mansion, Ed Mulgrave Jr.

“And this is Garret”, she added, once the women had shaken hands with Ed, “the tour guide who encountered the ghost.”

“It was dreadful”, Garret said at once, not needing to be prompted by the team, “just awful, I thought it would kill me. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“He soiled himself”, Ed helpfully threw in, earning a look of indignation from Garret while Erin grimaced, not quite having needed that bit of information, “he called me sobbing, saying oh my God, my pants are toast.”

“…okay”, Abby said, while Holtzmann looked unduly fascinated, “well, then. We’ll just get going then and take a look around inside, if there is nothing else you can tell us?”

“You’re gonna die in there”, Garret replied in an oddly monotone voice, the four women exchanging a look; then, he seemed to snap out of it and cleared his throat, holding out the keys to the mansion, his hand trembling enough to make them jingle.

“Thank you”, Abby politely said, quickly taking them before he could drop them; he gave them an unhappy look in response, didn’t say anything else though, merely watching how the four women grabbed their equipment from the car’s trunk, strapping on the proton packs and readying the PKE meter and recording devices before they headed across the street and to the building entrance.

“Alright ladies”, Holtzmann said, holding the PKE meter while Abby unlocked the door, “the proton packs have been overhauled and yes, Erin, tested, as well, so there’s no danger of any unexpected sparks or unwanted smoke. They pack more of a punch now, so if we’re lucky, we’ll finally get to trap a ghost today.”

“Ooh I hope so”, Erin said, making Abby nod at once, “that would be such a big step for our research, not to mention it would be the best proof we could get that ghosts are real.”

They had made quite a few videos at this point, but hadn’t really been taken seriously by most of the people who had seen those; a few had called them, those plagued by ghosts at their home or at their workplaces, and they had gone to help, but with no way to trap the ghosts so far, proper proof for the sceptics was still missing.

“Behold”, Holtzmann said in response, pointing at the bottom of her pack and to the device she had strapped to it, “the new and improved ghost trap.”

“Looks great”, Erin complimented, and the two grinned at each other, Abby and Patty exchanging a silent, long-suffering look – at this point, the two were just waiting for Holtzmann and Erin to kiss at last, the sexual tension between them so big it sometimes felt as if it could be cut with a knife, but so far, nothing had happened between them, something neither Abby, nor Patty truly understood.

At some point, both women figured, something just _had_ to happen, it was so painfully obvious that Holtzmann liked Erin and that Erin liked Holtzmann back the same way; as it was though, everyone but the women themselves could see it, and so, Abby and Patty remained quiet, having decided that they would give them the time they obviously needed to figure it out for themselves, no matter how tedious it sometimes could get to watch them pine for each other.

“Okay”, Abby said, distracting them from grinning at each other like lovestruck teenagers, “let’s do this.”

She entered the mansion first, the others right behind her; Ed Mulgrave Jr. had told them that the ghost had come from the normally locked basement, and the women were dismayed to find the basement door locked again, none of the keys on the ring Garret had given them fitting the heavy padlock.

“Damn”, she let out after having tried them all unsuccessfully, “someone really doesn’t want us to get in there.”

“I can try picking that lock later”, Holtzmann gave back, smirking, shrugging at how Abby raised an eyebrow at the revelation of this so far unknown skill, “but first we should check the rest of the mansion.”

The others agreed, and Abby led the way again, PKE meter in hand; behind her, Holtzmann walked, followed by Patty, and Erin brought up the rear, a fact which made it even stranger that she was the one who almost slipped on a puddle of green goo, flailing her arms as she fought to keep her balance.

“You okay?” Holtzmann was the one to ask, all three having noticed and turned to look; grumbling under her breath about slime, Erin nodded once she had managed to regain her balance fully – they had encountered ectoplasm several times by now, and since suspiciously often, she was the one who got in contact with it one way or another, she was quite convinced by now that the stuff somehow was after her.

“Of course I was the one to slip again”, she said out loud, glaring at the offending puddle, “I keep telling you guys, this stuff is after me personally.”

“We should start keeping track of that, seriously”, Patty agreed, with a sceptical look at the puddle, “it does seem as if Erin ends up slimed the most, no matter if it’s much slime or just a bit like now.”

“Thank you”, Erin said emphatically, and just then, as if on cue, the basement door swung open behind her, complete with creepy creaking sound.

The four women just had the chance to turn and look, then the ghost of Gertrude Aldridge shot out of the basement, slammed into Erin on the way past and made her stumble, laughing as she rushed past the stunned Ghostbusters as Erin hit the floor with a pained yelp, the ghost’s eyes glowing red as she turned to face them, clearly not willing to end her haunting of this place peacefully.


	25. Chapter 25

After the ghost had knocked Erin down, everything happened very fast.

Holtzmann let out an angry, wordless shout, clearly not liking it to see Erin pushed around like that; within the blink of an eye, her proton wand was in her hand, prompting Abby and Patty to do the same, the ghost laughing again in response, clearly not very impressed by their weapons.

The proton packs hummed audibly as they powered up, and Holtzmann was the first to fire; Abby and Patty followed suit, while Erin struggled to get back to her feet, only to yelp and nearly fall again when her right foot didn’t quite work the way it should, remaining in the position it had been in when she had fallen, with the toes pointing downwards, some joint or other part clearly having taken damage when she had fallen.

Realizing she wouldn’t be able to stand with her prosthetic damaged like this, Erin struggled to sit up instead, ending up with her back against the wall; noticing her troubles, Holtzmann moved out of the way so she had a clear line of fire, and Erin took advantage of that at once, adding her proton stream to the three already holding the ghost.

“Good!” Holtzmann shouted, raising her voice to be heard over the crackle of their weapons, “keep it up! Trap going out in three… two… one…”

She yanked the trap from where it had been strapped to pack and slid it out, managing to do it just right, so that it ended right beneath Gertrude Aldridge’s ghost; holding the proton wand with her right hand, Holtzmann used her left to push a button on the small control panel strapped to her upper arm, and the trap opened at once, Gertrude Aldridge’s laughter turning into shrieks of anger as she realized what was happening when it began sucking her in.

“Help her along!” Holtzmann called out, moving her proton wand down a bit to demonstrate; the other three followed her suit, the ghost’s struggles increasing as she tried to avoid getting sucked into the trap, the improved proton packs holding her in their stream though, “good, good going, keep it up, good going ladies!”

Gertrude Aldridge howled as she was pulled closer and closer to the trap; her struggles increased, but the proto streams were strong enough this time, and finally, the ghost got sucked into the trap fully, letting out one final shriek before it snapped shut and cut the sound off, smoke rising from the trap as the women took their finger off the trigger.

“We did it, didn’t we”, Erin was the one to break the stunned silence which had settled over the group after the trap had snapped shut, “we captured a ghost.”

Grinning, Holtzmann moved over to the trap and bent down to pick it up, taking a closer look at it; and then, her grin widened as she nodded, Erin beaming back at her in response, her damaged leg forgotten as she was filled with joy at this accomplishment.

“We did it!” she cheered while Holtzmann strapped the trap to her pack again after holstering her proton wand; then, she moved to where Erin was sitting and helped her to her feet, supporting her as they left the mansion together and helping her walk, all four women smiling happily as they made their way back to their car, well aware of how important their success was for their research.

* * *

“Careful now”, Holtzmann said as she helped Erin out of the car, the physicist still not able to use her right leg, “don’t fall, jeez I’m sorry, this never should have happened…”

“Well, we never would have guessed I’d use that leg to chase ghosts”, Erin pointed out, leaning on Holtzmann quite heavily and hopping along somewhat awkwardly on her good leg, glad that it wasn’t far to the lab and to the couch they had there, usually used by Holtzmann for naps whenever she worked through the night, “and I know you’ll fix it, so you have nothing to apologize for.”

Holtzmann smiled at those words, glad that Erin wasn’t annoyed at her for what had happened to her prosthetic; it took them a bit longer than usual to get Erin to the lab, but finally, they had arrived there, and she sat down heavily on the couch, already unzipping her coveralls before Holtzmann had to ask.

Thanks to how often she got slimed, she had taken to wearing as little as possible beneath said coveralls; this day, it was a sports bra and short yoga pants, and as the coveralls slid off her body, Erin took note of how Holtzmann swallowed heavily as her body was more or less exposed.

If it had been anyone else, she would have thought that this was a negative reaction, due to her fake leg; with Holtzmann though, she knew it wasn’t, and could feel herself flush, glad that the engineer was looking at her leg now and didn’t notice.

“Huh”, Holtzmann let out, having taken hold of the prosthetic and studying it, “looks like this joint here got stuck. Should be an easy fix, but also shouldn’t have happened, I’ll make sure to fix it so it doesn’t happen again.”

“I know you will”, Erin gave back, making the engineer glance up at her as she smiled; then, she told Erin that she had to take the prosthetic off to make the repairs, Erin nodding her agreement, figuring she could use the one the hospital had given her until said repairs were done.

Holtzmann gave her another smile, then moved up to undo the straps around her waist, and suddenly, their faces were very close to each other; and again, Erin noticed how Holtzmann swallowed heavily, amazed to see that the engineer’s cheeks actually reddened.

Normally, she was the one to blush, and Holtzmann was the bold one, but apparently, their roles had been reversed somehow, now; she felt nervous, too, but didn’t let that stop her, also felt brave as she reached up and ran her fingers along Holtzmann’s jawline, the engineer shuddering visibly at her touch.

This visible reaction to the gentle caress was all Erin had needed to give her the last needed push; and so, she let her hand slide from the engineer’s jaw to her neck – and then pulled her closer, their lips meeting, and it seemed as if her heart would burst through her chest at how amazing the kiss made her feel.

“This”, she mumbled once they had pulled apart again, eyes sparkling, something she could see mirrored in Holtzmann’s eyes, “has taken way too long. Kiss me again.”

Holtzmann gladly did so, and this time, the kiss deepened fairly quickly, became more passionate; Erin noticed how the engineer started breathing heavier, then the blonde pulled back again, cheeks flushed as she spoke up.

“If we don’t stop now”, she let her know, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop at all.”

Erin just smiled, having noticed that their colleagues had made a detour, perhaps – hopefully – to give them some private time; and when she responded, Holtzmann’s eyes widened before she smirked, clearly not having expected this, but more than willing to go along with it.

“Then don’t.”


	26. Chapter 26

As it turned out, Abby and Patty indeed had taken a detour, and were smart enough to knock before entering the lab; by the time they came back though, Erin and Holtzmann had sated their passion for now, and Holtzmann was sitting at her workbench in perfect innocence, working on fixing Erin’s leg, while Erin herself was on the couch, her laptop resting on her thighs as she typed, writing a rough report of the bust at the mansion for their files.

Not quite having expected this, Abby and Patty exchanged a look, finding it hard to believe that the two hadn’t hooked up _again_ ; it didn’t look as if they had done anything else than work though, and Abby had to hold back a groan, wondering how two people who were as smart as Erin and Holtzmann could be so dense.

Patty clearly had similar thoughts, frowning to herself, but not saying anything; and so, Abby kept quiet as well, moving over to the couch to sit down next to Erin, asking if she was okay while Patty to get another look at the artificial limb, once more fascinated by how well made it was.

“Oh, you came at a bad time”, Holtzmann told her, making her pout, “I’m as good as done, just have to fix this bit here and… ta-daa! Babe, you ready to put it back on?”

“Sure”, Erin gave back at once, moving the laptop aside; Abby blinked, having picked up on the pet name Holtzmann had used for Erin, but not quite sure what to make of it, Patty staring at the blonde, too, clearly having noticed as well.

“Abby, help me stand up so Holtz can strap this to me?” Erin asked, making her best friend nod, her mind still racing at the endearment; she helped Erin to get up and supported her as Holtzmann moved over and strapped the prosthetic to her thigh and waist, her eyes nearly falling out of her head when afterwards, Holtzmann straightened up again – and kissed Erin right on the lips, just a short peck, but a kiss nonetheless.

“…Patty, you just saw that, too, right”, Abby brought out, stumped, feeling a bit relieved though when Patty nodded at once, her eyes just as wide as the researcher’s; in perfect innocence, Erin batted her eyelashes and asked “seen what?”, only to break and giggle at the smirk which curled Holtzmann’s lips in response.

“Ooh”, Erin let out, as if she only now realized what the two were talking about, “seen _that_. Oh yeah, you guys, Holtz and I are dating now, it happened right after we came back from the bust.”

“About damn time”, Patty said, shaking her head, but smiling now, “Abby and I were already finding it hard to believe how long it was taking you guys to figure this out. Seriously, you kept making googly eyes at each other across the room.”

“Good things come to those who wait”, Holtzmann replied solemnly, making the physicist smile before she pulled her close for another kiss; Abby rolled her eyes at this influx of cuteness, didn’t tell them to cut it out though, merely smiling as she let them know that kissing was fine, but anything else was off limits in the lab and should be taken to a place which was not their workspace.

“Oh, of course, we would never”, Holtzmann said at once, Erin nodding along; and neither Abby, nor Patty picked up on the look they shared afterwards and at how they both suppressed a grin, both remaining perfectly unaware of what exactly had happened in that lab already.

* * *

In the next day, Erin was floating on clouds the whole time as she held her class, smiling happily through the lecture and when answering the questions of the students afterwards; she smiled as she walked back to her office, nodding at colleagues and students alike, some heads turning as she passed – she had never been grouchy or unfriendly, but never had seemed so happy, either, and it was noticed – and she smiled as she entered her office, even though her smile faltered a bit when she saw that she had a missed call from Filmore on her office line.

She wondered for a moment why he had called during her lecture – after all, he knew when she held which class, and so, had known that she had been in a lecture, a lecture which had ended on time, too, and hadn’t taken longer than planned; then, she shrugged these thoughts off and called him back, raising an eyebrow when he took the call at once and, after asking her if she was free now, asked her to come to his office.

“Alright”, she gave back, and he hung up without another word; Erin frowned at the receiver, then put it down as well and got up from her seat, wondering what he might want as she made her way to his office down the hall.

It could be about tenure, she still had time to think, as she knocked the door, then entered… then she saw the hard look on his face, and immediately knew that it wasn’t, her heart plummeting to her stomach before she pulled herself together, telling herself that, after losing her leg and successfully trapping a ghost the other day, she certainly could handle whatever Filmore had in store for her now.

“Have a seat”, he said, not bothering to greet her, just another sign that whatever he wanted to talk about was nothing pleasant; Erin sat down in response, once more taking note of how the chair opposite to his was lower than his own, always making whoever sat there seem smaller than him and allowing him to look down at them, except maybe if the person sitting there was exceptionally tall.

Erin wasn’t, and she felt oddly reminded her of her childhood, when she had sat at a similar desk, and a therapist had patiently explained to her that ghosts weren’t real and that she was only making things up for attention.

“Doctor Gilbert”, Filmore began, folding his hands on the table in front of him, a pretentious, heavy thing made of dark oak, “as I told you, the tenure committee has been reviewing your work here. There… have been new developments though which might change things.”

He paused so Erin could say something, but she remained silent, just looking back at him; and as she held his gaze, she thought of Holtzmann, of Abby and of Patty, and told herself that they would support her, no matter what the outcome of this meeting would be, and this knowledge helped her to not break eye-contact with him.

“This”, he said after a moment, turning his screen so she could see it, and she wasn’t truly surprised that it showed the website of their team Abby had put up, “was forwarded to me by Dr Bronstein. Care to explain?”

“It’s a side project”, Erin replied, voice carefully neutral, “Dr Yates and I used to work together in college, and took this up again after my stay at the hospital.”

“A side project involving ghosts”, the dean replied, raising an eyebrow, “is this some sort of joke? To be frank, for your sake, I almost hope it is, because if you were serious about this… Well, if we give someone tenure, this person represents the institution of Columbia University, and hunting ghosts is not what this institution is about.”

Erin just raised an eyebrow, easily able to tell he wasn’t done yet; again Filmore paused though, and again she said nothing, the elder man clearing his throat before he continued.

“Your tenure review will have to be pushed back, for a year or more”, he told her, and his eyebrow twitched when she only kept looking back at him, not appearing all too impressed, apparently having expected more of a reaction, “and we’ll have to ask you that you immediately cease work on this… side project. If not, your whole position here might be jeopardized.”

“No”, Erin calmly replied, and this time, he was too surprised to hide it, gaping at her; she gave him a tight, pleasant smile, voice even and calm when she continued, and she didn’t even need to act, suddenly feeling calm and confident, in control of the situation.

“You can’t just fire me”, she added, “because nowhere on this website, I’m tied to Columbia in any way. It’s mentioned not once that I teach here. Also, I’m officially disabled, so firing me will be even more difficult. I’ll save you the trouble though – I quit. You’ll be able to read about our research in this field in the established journals soon, I think.”

He just kept gaping at her, for the first time since she had met him at a loss for words; she smiled at him again, then got up from her chair and wished him a nice day and a good career before she left the office without looking back, suddenly feeling oddly light and free, just knowing she had done the right thing.


	27. Chapter 27

Professors and students alike stared at Erin as she walked past them, carrying the box with the private items from her office; she still was smiling, not appearing bothered the slightest, nodding at them again as she walked, cheerfully telling the few who asked what was happening that she had quit.

“Quit!” one of them, a professor for chemistry with whom she had gone to lunch a few times before she’d had enough of his condescending way of talking to her and most other people, “why would you quit?! Others would give everything for a chance to work here!”

“Well, now one spot is free”, Erin told him, smiling at his gobsmacked look, “but if you feel so bad for me, Phil, why don’t you help me carry this down to the cab?”

“Have a good day”, he replied, as if he hadn’t heard her question, “and good luck. You’ll need it.”

“Thank you”, Erin gave back, with another bright smile, not bothering to let his insult get to her; he blinked as she kept walking, feeling his eyes and those of the others in the hallway on her back, but once again, she didn’t look back, not caring that they were staring after her as she left.

The cab was already waiting, the driver looking curiously at her box of things, but not asking her about it; keeping it professional, he asked her where she wanted to go, and once she had told him that she wanted to Higgins Institute, he nodded and drove in silence, only glancing at her through the rear view mirror every now and then.

She didn’t answer his unasked question, even though she could tell he was curious; he knew better than to just ask though, and Erin kept quiet during the drive, only speaking up to thank him when the car stopped in front of the Higgins building.

“Keep the change”, she added as she handed him a few bills, then grabbed her box and got out of the car; glad that Holtzmann had fixed her leg perfectly, she walked fast and secure to the entrance, then made her way to the lab, both Abby and Holtzmann looking up at her entrance, surprised, but clearly delighted to see her.

“Hey babe”, Holtzmann was the first to speak up, hopping off her chair and moving over to help her with the cardboard box, “not that I’m not happy to see you, but… what exactly is going on?”

“I quit”, Erin replied, holding back a giggle at how both Abby and Holtzmann gaped at her in response, the engineer hurrying to put down the cardboard box so she’d have her hands free in case Erin would need a hug, “Dr Filmore called me to his office because he stumbled across our website somehow, and demanded that, if I want tenure and not get fired, I’d have to quit working with you guys. And when he said that, I don’t know, I suddenly had enough of him after all the years I tried kissing his ass, so… I told him I quit.”

“Oh wow”, Abby let out, impressed – the Erin she had known during college never would have dared to do something like this, to give up a more or less secure job in favour of what they were doing in their little lab, “that’s… wow, Erin. How does it make you feel?”

“You sound like the shrinks I had when I was little”, Erin replied with a roll of her eyes, making Holtzmann snicker while Abby made a face, “and I feel… good about it. Like I’m finally free of having to be the perfect little professor there, you know? Now I can focus on our work here, and I know I did the right thing.”

“Awesome”, Holtzmann grinned, pulling her in for a victory hug instead of a comforting one and planting a hearty smack on her lips, making her giggle, “way to go, babe! Now we can work here together all day, that’s awesome.”

“Here! Together!” Abby cried in response, jumping up from her seat, “Holtz, that’s it! Now that Erin’s free from Columbia, we can ask the dean to hire her for this place! Erin, I know this isn’t a prestigious place like Columbia, but they’re fully supportive of our work here, all we have to do is ask.”

“Oh, that would be great”, Erin gave back, feeling even better now – after all, while she knew that the capture of Gertrude Aldridge’s ghost was a breakthrough and would lead to proper scientific studies, papers and eventually, funding, she had been prepared to live off her savings until then, and the option that Higgins might hire and pay her was much more appealing than that.

“All we have to do is go to him and ask”, Abby added, Holtzmann nodding along enthusiastically, “they’d be more than happy to have you.”

“Let’s do that then”, Erin said, making both women nod this time, “and find me a new job.”

* * *

“Absolutely not”, the dean firmly said, unimpressed by how Abby and Holtzmann gaped at him, “to be frank, I didn’t even know your department still existed! Hunting ghosts? Are you serious? There is no way you get money from me for _that_. We are an upstanding institution, and we will not be connected to such… drivel!”

“Upstanding institution”, Abby mocked in response, not bothering to be polite, knowing the man well enough at this point to be aware of the fact that he had made up his mind about hiring Erin and wouldn’t change it, “you take those who can’t get in anywhere else! And you spell science with a Y and don’t even know that’s wrong!”

“I know though that _fired_ is not spelled with a Y, and that’s what the two of you are”, the dean shot back, making both Abby and Holtzmann glare at him while Erin fidgeted on her seat, not having expected this unpleasant outcome, “so get your things and leave. Now!”

“…fine”, Abby agreed surprisingly quick, exchanging a look with Holtzmann Erin couldn’t quite read, the physicist figuring though that they had something planned already, “you’ll feel sorry you did this once we got the first papers released and people are gonna line up at our door to fund us. Have a good day.”

The dean just waved his hand dismissively, apparently not worried that he was making a mistake; Abby gave him another glare, then got up from her seat, prompting Holtzmann and Erin to do the same, none of them giving the dean another look as they left the office.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned”, Erin said as they walked back to the lab to pack up, Abby giving her a guilty look, “now the three of us are unemployed instead of just me.”

“Erin, I’m sorry”, Abby gave back, stopping to put one hand on her arm, “if I had had the slightest idea it might turn out like this… I’m really sorry, I was sure he would…”

“I’m sure it’s gonna be fine”, Erin told her, touched by her genuine distress about how badly this talk with the dean had ended, “we’ll figure something out. And I got quite a bit saved, I’ll be okay for a while… I might just have to look for another apartment, the one I have right now is not quite cheap enough to be paid with no steady paycheck.”

“You can stay with me”, Holtzmann threw in, making the redhead look at her in surprise, the engineer giving a sheepish smile and shrug before she continued, “I mean, I know we just got together literally a day ago and that might be super fast but… you wouldn’t need to spend money on your old place until you found a new one, and we could split rent on mine. Win-win.”

“…you know what, that’s a great idea”, Erin said, Abby gaping at her in response – moving in with a romantic partner so fast was something she would have expected from Erin even less than quitting her job from one day to the other, “and you’re right, it’ll be win-win for both of us. Let’s do it.”

“Excellent”, Holtzmann said happily, pulling Erin in for a tight hug; smiling widely as well, the physicist returned the embrace, amazed at how her life had changed completely within just a few hours – and how happy and confident she felt despite their somewhat uncertain future, suddenly sure that everything would work out just fine for the four of them, and for Holtzmann and her once they’d start living together.


	28. Chapter 28

Thanks to Patty knowing a real estate agent, they found a new place for their lab quickly; it wasn’t ideal, located above a Chinese restaurant, the smell of fried noodles and wonton soup quite persistent, but Erin figured that for now, it would do, telling herself that soon, they wouldn’t notice the smell anymore as she unpacked her things.

A few feet away, Holtzmann was doing the same, humming along happily to the radio as she moved tools and half-finished gadgets from her boxes to the workbench; catching Erin’s eye, she winked at her as she tossed a screwdriver up in the air, then caught it again, twirling it artfully before she put it down.

“You know”, Erin commented as she stopped her own work for a moment to simply watch Holtzmann, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone unpack stuff with such joy.”

“Well, this place might not be perfect”, Holtzmann gave back, removing what looked like a half finished proton shotgun from one of the boxes and gingerly placing it on the workbench, “but we can make it work! And once we landed some funding, which is gonna happen sooner rather than later, we can move to a bigger, fancier place. And! We’re gonna live together, which is an extra plus, and a big one, at that.”

“I agree”, Erin smiled, stopping her work to move over and hug the engineer; before her accident, she thought to herself as Holtzmann wrapped both arms around her, her left one feeling distinctly harder beneath her jacket then her right one, she never would have moved in with a partner so fast, would have been too anxious that it might ruin the relationship, but with Holtzmann, she could see it all work out, and after her accident, she had realized how fast things could change in life, and was eager to make the most of it.

“I’m gonna send in the cancellation of my apartment lease today”, she added, earning another bright smile from the blonde, “and after work, we can get my stuff from my old place?”

“Sounds like a plan”, Holtzmann grinned, then pulled her in for a quick, but gentle kiss; and just when they pulled apart again, Patty came up the stairs, looking around the small lab with a raised eyebrow before she gave the couple a curious look.

“Okay”, she then said, stepping in and taking a closer look at their new lab, “this place isn’t as bad as I feared when Abby said it’s the one above a restaurant, but… I leave you people alone for a day and the three of you get fired?”

“I didn’t get fired”, Erin quipped, making Patty raise an eyebrow, “I quit, because my sexist chauvinist boss wanted to blackmail into quitting my work with you guys.”

“Awww”, Patty let out, making the physicist smile, “that is touching, in a weird kinda way. And Abby and you, Holtz? You did get fired, right?”

“Uh-huh”, Holtzmann let out, not appearing all too perturbed by this fact though, “but I don’t mind, now we can work here full time without interruptions from Higgins, and Erin is gonna work with us here full time now, too, which is awesome.”

The two grinned at each other, and Patty mockingly rolled her eyes at their sweetness; then, she asked where Abby actually was, another eyeroll coming from her when Holtzmann told her that she was downstairs, checking out the menu of the restaurant in the ground floor.

“She’s the only human being I know who can eat this much Chinese soup”, she then commented, making both Erin and Holtzmann nod and snicker, “without growing tired of it ever. And now she’s practically sitting on top of a huge pot of it.”

“She’ll eat nothing else for a month”, Erin giggled, making the other two grin as well, “when we were roomies in college, she sometimes ate nothing else for a week. I kept teasing her that sooner or later, all her teeth would fall out.”

As if on cue, Abby came up the stairs, holding a large plastic cup full of soup; the other Ghostbusters took one look at it and all started laughing, Abby blinking in confusion, clearly having no idea what was so funny.

“I just told them of your soup habits in college”, Erin helpfully filled her in, Abby just shrugging in response, clearly not perturbed by having this part of her past revealed; she needlessly pointed out that she really liked soup, then sat down to eat, and just then, her cell phone began to ring, exciting and dismaying her at the same time.

“I put my cell number onto the website, until we got a landline set up here”, she explained her mixed emotions, pulling her phone from her pocket, “so there’s a big chance it’s a client. Ghostbusters, how may we help you?”

Erin briefly made a face at Abby greeting the caller with “Ghostbusters” – she had been in favour of a more professional sounding, but also longer name, and Abby and Holtzmann quite correctly had pointed out that, while the name Erin had suggested made them sound more like a scientific group, “Ghostbusters” was easier to remember for the general public, and would have a much nicer ring to it, once they’d go public with their findings.

“Yes, that is us”, Abby confirmed to whoever was on the other end of the line, “yes, we do. … Alright… Okay, we’ll be there as fast as possible. Try to stay calm until then and try to keep people from where it was last seen. Okay, bye!”

She hung up, then practically bounced to her feet, dismay gone now, the excitement having taken over, the other three tensing up before she even had to say anything, able to tell from what they had heard and from the look on Abby’s face that it indeed had been a client.

“That was the Stonebrook Theatre”, Abby confirmed, soup forgotten on the table behind her, “they have a ghost on the loose. Let’s gear up and catch another one, ladies!”

“Awesome”, Holtzmann cheered, already moving to where the proton packs were resting on one of the tables, “it’s too bad I didn’t finish any of the sidearms yet, but the proton packs are ready to go. Patty, here’s yours, Abby, this is yours, Erin, this one’s for you, Sweetheart, and this baby is mine.”

“Are they any different from each other?” Abby wanted to know, after how deliberate Holtzmann had handed them out; smirking, the engineer told her that only hers had some modifications and that the other three were basically the same, smiling in perfect innocence at the look Abby shot her.

“No worries”, she then said, Abby raising an eyebrow at her angelic face, “just a few tiny differences. If this bust works out the way it should, you won’t even notice them. Now, let’s go and catch another one!”

“Hell yeah”, Patty agreed, Erin and Abby nodding as well; and together, the four of them hurried to get changed, then all rushed to the car, soon on their way to Stonebrook Theatre, all of them looking forward to adding yet another ghost to their collection.


	29. Chapter 29

“One of these days, you’ll crash the car, and we’ll all be in the hospital”, Abby half grumbled, half groaned as she got out of said car, slightly green in the face; Erin once again had tried to make Holtzmann drive less recklessly, but it seemed as if the engineer was physically incapable of driving reasonably for more than a few minutes at a time, her crazy driver side taking over again before she could stop herself.

“If she does that, I’ll make sure to get her my one colleague, who has the coldest hands you will ever have touched in your life”, Patty let them know as she strapped on her pack, giving Holtzmann an unhappy look as well, unimpressed when the engineer gasped audibly in response.

“Patty!” she then said, sounding so scandalized that it made Erin laugh, “that is not ethical!”

“Well, it’s not exactly ethical either to let you bring in untested, unapproved, home-made prosthetics, and to hunt ghosts in the hospital”, Patty pointed out, Holtzmann looking sheepish in response, “but I let you do all that. So, in case you do crash us one day, Doctor Cold-Hands it is.”

“Hmph”, was all Holtzmann could let out in response to that; Erin made a cooing little “aww” sound and moved to rub her shoulder, her back not quite accessible thanks to the proton pack, and immediately, Holtzmann smiled brightly at her, all worries about Doctor Cold-Hands forgotten.

“Alright”, Abby threw in, adjusting her pack slightly, still not quite used to the weight of it, “let’s go find and trap this ghost. There’s a festival going on in there, so we have to be careful with firing, if the ghost does get close to the audience.”

“Noted”, Holtzmann nodded, Erin and Patty nodding their agreement; then, the four started moving in perfect sync, Holtzmann giving Erin’s leg a brief look before her eyes came up to meet the physicist’s, Erin answering her unasked question with a brief nod, silently telling her that the repairs had been successful and that her leg worked as well as it had before the damage done to it at the mansion.

A man in a suit was already waiting for them, eying them curiously, but not making any unpleasant comments, simply asking if they were the Ghostbusters; they confirmed they were, and he quickly told them what had happened, while a whimpering man was carried past them on a stretcher, muttering to himself in Spanish about how things had come alive and had chased him.

“I came across… it, throwing poor Fernando around the room”, suit man explained, with a worried look at the man in question, “and I guess I must have scared it off when I screamed, I’m told I have a very disturbing scream.”

“Did you see where it went?” Erin wanted to know, and he nodded, pointing out the backstage area; seeing how big said area actually was, they decided to split up into teams of two, Erin smiling when Holtzmann cried “dibs on Erin!” the moment the decision had been made.

“As if we would have dared to separate the two of you”, Abby teased, making the engineer grin while Erin blushed a bit, “I don’t want to imagine the pouting which would have ensued from both of you. Alright, we got our walkie-talkies, so the moment one of us sees something, we radio for the other team, alright?”

“Roger”, Holtzmann confirmed, saluting and making Erin snort while Abby rolled her eyes; then, the four of them split up, Holtzmann and Erin going right while Abby and Patty went left.

“Poor guy who got attacked by the ghost”, Erin said, glancing around, feeling a bit nervous – this wasn’t the first time they were after a ghost, and they had weapons she knew to be effective, but still her heart was hammering in her chest, as she was all too aware of how quickly someone could get hurt.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll find another one of those weird devices here”, she continued, “if that ghost is strong enough to throw people around…”

She trailed off as she turned to look at Holtzmann, and saw that the engineer had found a purple wig and a large gaudy hat; she flinched at the unexpected sight, then shook her head while Holtzmann snickered, clearly amused by the effect her little dress-up had had.

“Holtzmann”, Erin tried to sound serious, the corners of her mouth twitching though, “this is serious.”

“I agree”, Holtzmann replied solemnly, “looking good is a serious matter. The hat is too much, right? Is it the wig or the hat?”

“You look perfect with neither already”, Erin told her, amazed to see that she blushed a bit; clearing her throat and looking a bit sheepish now, Holtzmann pulled both the wig and the hat off, then took a moment to steal a brief kiss, even though this might be considered highly unprofessional, considering they were on a job.

On the other hand, no one was around to see them, and so Erin figured that a brief moment of tenderness was okay; she reached up and briefly touched the engineer’s cheek, then cleared her throat as she pulled back, telling herself that they had to focus now.

“Wouldn’t want the ghost to get on the jump on us while we’re smooching”, she pointed out an unpleasant possibility, making Holtzmann grimace and nod; and so, they both moved their attention from each other to the bust again, glancing around as they kept walking.

“Guys”, Abby’s voice came through the walkie-talkie a short while later, the connection crackling a bit, but letting them understand her well enough, “come to the storage room close to where we started, I found another of those devices.”

“On the way”, Erin was the one to respond, both of them hurrying to find their friend afterwards; it didn’t take them long to find the room Abby had been talking about, and they were mildly surprised that Patty wasn’t with her, both of them figuring though that she probably just needed a bit longer to get there.

“Here”, Abby said, pointing at the device she had found, “that looks like what we saw in the hospital, right, only it’s not burned out like the one there.”

“Oooh”, Holtzmann let out, “that means we can take it along and get a proper look at it! …if I can make sure it doesn’t explode on the way.”

“If you can’t, it stays here, and pictures will have to do”, Abby strictly told her, making her pout, “I’m not risking blowing us all up in the car for this.”

“Please”, Holtzmann gave back, already eying the device, “not to brag, but I’m a genius. I can figure out how to make this safe for transport.”

As if for emphasis, she reached out and touched the device, and it reacted at once, spitting sparks and lighting up; startled, Holtzmann pulled her hand back, Abby giving her a pointed look, but before she could say anything, the door flew open and Patty came storming in, wide-eyed and looking startled, making them all look at her in surprise when she slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it.

“What”, Erin had time to start asking a question, then an oddly stiff foot kicked through the wooden door, making them all jump, Erin for a moment crazily thinking it was a prosthetic leg like the one the hospital had provided for her, a second glance showing though that the foot looked more like that of a mannequin.

“It’s chasing me!” Patty yelped as she hurried away from the door, the four women lining up at once and starting up their proton wands; the hum of the packs was oddly reassuring to Erin, but she still flinched when the mannequin broke through the door, having the feeling that it was glaring at them even though the head was just a faceless sphere.

“Hi”, Holtzmann said, of all things, waving at the mannequin; it roared in response, as if offended by the greeting, and took a stiff step forward, Erin setting her jaw as she took notice of the greenish glow seeping out from the thing’s joints.

“There’s a ghost in there”, she said, already taking aim, “and I want it!”

“Fire in the hole!” Holtzmann cried as she pushed the trigger, the others following the blink of an eye later; the streams wrapped around the mannequin, not breaking even when it struggled, all four women flinching back when, after a few seconds, it practically exploded, bits and pieces of it flying everywhere, fortunately not hitting the Ghostbusters.

With a roar, the ghost broke free, looking frighteningly like some winged dragon monster straight out of someone’s nightmares; it roared at the group for emphasis – before it took off through the ceiling, the Ghostbusters staring for a moment before they took off, chasing it.

“Quick, quick!” Erin shouted as she ran, feeling a twinge in her leg, but ignoring it; Abby commented on how she was loving her fire, and she took a moment to smile at her friend, then grew serious again as they chased the ghost, the apparition flying straight towards the stage, apparently hellbent on causing as much fear and havoc as it could before it’d get captured.

Gritting her teeth, Erin forced herself to speed up, even though she already suspected she would pay for it later; shrugging these thoughts off for now, she didn’t permit herself to slow down, even though she had to come to a rather abrupt halt when the ghost flew over the stage and hovered above the audience, the band staring at them in confusion as they hurried onto the stage.

The audience clearly thought it was part of the show, cheering, even though some of them started to look worried when the ghost turned, flew back to the stage and slammed into the singer, sending the unfortunate man flying into the wall of speakers behind him; Patty took a moment to call out to them that they should remain calm, then all four aimed for the ghost and fired, only to have the apparition avoid the streams with an almost elegant loop, the proton streams hitting the walls and various decorations instead.

“Aim for the ghost, oh my God!” the man who had filled them in on the situation at their arrival shouted, eyes wide at the carnage, “this is art deco!”

Another proton stream went awry, blasting a bit of said decoration off the wall; and when the man screamed in response, they knew what he had meant when he had said his scream was disturbing, the high-pitched shriek making all four of them grimace.

“This isn’t working”, Abby called out, “we need to get him from all sides! Patty, you to the left, I’ll go right!”

They both jumped, the audience catching them and, with some guidance from the two women, moving them where they had to go; and once they were in position, all four fired again, feeling elated when this time, it worked and the streams wrapped around the ghost once more.

“Yes!” Erin cheered, tightening her grip on her proton gun, worried that the ghost might end up breaking free with all the jerking around it was doing, “we got it! Now let’s trap it! Holtz?”

In response, the engineer pushed the button which made the trap fall from her pack, then kicked it out, as close to the caught ghost as she could; just like at the mansion, she counted down, giving them all a few seconds to prepare, then stepped on the control pedal, the trap snapping open, the ghost roaring again when it started being pulled towards it.

“There we go!” Holtzmann cheered them on, the audience cheering as well, their short-lived worries about this strange situation forgotten, “almost there, keep at it ladies! And… aaaaand…”

The ghost was sucked into the trap, and she slammed her foot down onto the pedal once more; it snapped shut, smoke slowly rising from it, and for a few moments, there was silence – before everybody started to cheer again, the Ghostbusters themselves celebrating along with the crowd, Erin pulling Holtzmann in for a tight embrace, overjoyed at their second trapped ghost.


	30. Chapter 30

“I really need to build something where we can store these babies”, Holtzmann commented as she gingerly placed the trap in the cupboard they were using for this purpose for now, the other one with the ghost of Gertrude Aldridge inside sitting in there already, “if we catch more of these guys, the cupboard won’t be big enough anymore. Or safe.”

She closed the cupboard, then straightened up and stretched, grimacing a bit as the weight of the proton pack had taken its toll on her back; not letting this stop her though, she moved over to her workbench, where the device was sitting, ready to be examined after they safely had brought it back from the theatre.

“Also”, she continued while she sat down and adjusted her yellow glasses, then peered at the device, “these traps are supposed to be recyclable. I have a few ideas, but I might need your physicist genius to make sure they work, Erin.”

She looked up when no response came, at Erin sitting in one of the booths; the physicist appeared lost in thought, and Holtzmann said her name again, adding “babe?” when again there was no discernible reaction.

At the endearment, Erin did look up, only now seeming to realize that Holtzmann had been talking to her; she blinked, then said “sorry, what?” and immediately, Holtzmann forgot all about the device and moved to her side, her curiousness about the device forgotten and replaced with worry for her girlfriend.

“Hey”, she said as she crawled across the bench to end up next to Erin, instead of simply asking her to move over a bit, “you okay? You looked a bit… spaced out there for a bit.”

“I, um”, Erin gave back, suddenly finding it hard to look her in the eye, even though she knew she wasn’t about to be judged for what she was about to say, “I… my leg. It kinda… it hurts. Maybe I overdid it when I ran around at the Stonebrook…”

“Oh”, Holtzmann let out, startling Erin a bit by practically bouncing to her feet again, even though the redhead smiled a bit at what the engineer said next, “I should have figured that out on my own, I mean, I know what it’s like. But, luckily, I have exactly what is needed for such a malady. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Erin nodded, giving Holtzmann a grateful smile, the engineer smiling back at her before she practically bounced off to get whatever it was she’d been talking about; holding back a grimace at the dull, but steadily throbbing pain in her leg, she leaned back into the bench, glad that Abby and Patty were downstairs organizing food for the group, quite sure that Patty would have scolded her, had she seen her like this.

_And possibly would have told me I can’t go on busts again for a while,_ she thought to herself, grimacing after all at the idea; and just then, Holtzmann came back, carrying a small white container, holding it up proudly as she sat down next to Erin again.

“Here”, she then said, unscrewing the lid and letting Erin look at the contents of the container, white cream faintly smelling of mint, “Dr Gorin and I came up with this together with the doc who did the operation on my arm. It’ll numb the pain and help with any bruising which might have formed. Take off your pants please? Or at least slide them down far enough I can get at your thigh and knee?”

“Sure”, Erin replied, not feeling shy about doing so – not after what Holtzmann and she had done at their old lab after the first successful bust –, the engineer clearly thinking of the same moment as she grinned at her; Erin smiled back at her, then unbuckled her belt and slid down her pants, both of them grimacing though as they saw the bruises which were already forming, just as Holtzmann had predicted.

“Aw, poor you”, Holtzmann showed sympathy, gingerly running her fingers over the discoloured skin and making a face at how warm it felt, “feels like it’s a bit swollen, too. Maybe we should get Patty up here and let her take a look, as well?”

“No”, Erin said at once, making the blonde look up at her again, “she’ll scold me and maybe tell me I can’t go on busts with you guys for a while, I don’t want to risk that. Not yet. Let’s try your concoction here first and if that doesn’t work, we can still ask her.”

Understanding Erin’s worries, Holtzmann nodded, then dipped two fingers into the container, removing a generous portion of the salve from it; she warned Erin that it might feel a bit cold, then carefully started spreading it on her thigh, the physicist shuddering at both said cold and at how gentle Holtzmann’s touch was.

“Tell me if it hurts”, Holtzmann mumbled, Erin letting out a vaguely agreeing noise; closing her eyes, she allowed herself to relax at the tender touch, leaning her head back, a low, content sigh coming from her when it seemed to help almost immediately and the pain lessened considerably.

“This feels so good”, she sighed, making Holtzmann smile even though the physicist couldn’t see it, “you’re really good at this Holtz, wow.”

“Well, I’ve had plenty of practice on my own arm”, Holtzmann smirked, adding a bit more cream just to be on the safe side, “but happy to hear it works.”

“And how”, Erin mumbled, sounding as if she was close to falling asleep now; Holtzmann smiled, proud at herself for how well this was working, going on for another minute or two before she figured it wouldn’t get any better and pulled back, Erin lifting her head back up to give her an adorable pout in response.

“You stopped”, she then said, “why’d you stop? It was nice. Don’t stop?”

“The cream is gone”, Holtzmann pointed out, Erin’s pout intensifying in response, “and if I go on for too long, I might make it worse again, I’m sorry. I can do it again a bit later?”

“Okay”, Erin smiled, making the engineer smile back at her; they shared a brief kiss, then Holtzmann helped her pull her pants back on, sitting down next to her afterwards, just in time before Abby and Patty returned to the lab with lunch for the group, perfectly unaware of the fact that just minutes ago, one of the two women on the couch had been only half-dressed and in quite a bit of pain.

“So as I was saying”, Holtzmann quickly said, remembering what Erin had said about her concerns that Patty might forbid her to go on busts if she realized that she was in pain, “we’ll need some sort of containment unit thing for the ghosts. I can build many more traps, no problem there, but storage might get tricky.”

Erin nodded along, thankful for how Holtzmann helped her keep her already fading pain a secret, even though it also made her feel a bit bad, as she knew that Patty and Abby would only be concerned and would mean well; still she was glad that for now, they didn’t know that she had been in pain, and didn’t suspect anything, simply asking what they were talking about as they handed out the food, Holtzmann gladly filling them in and making them nod along, Erin’s pain soon forgotten fully as they talked about how to keep the ghosts safe and secure in the near future.


	31. Chapter 31

After the Ghostbusters had eaten lunch and had discussed various methods of containing the ghosts they had already captured, Holtzmann declared that she would head out and go dumpster diving, for new parts she could use to build stronger weapons.

It hadn’t taken the group long to realize that a containment unit built the way Holtzmann was imagining it wasn’t an option, not at the moment – not only did they not have the room for the huge thing Holtzmann was thinking of, but also not enough money, and so, they had to find another way to take care of any ghosts they might encounter.

“I feel bad about destroying them”, Erin sighed while Holtzmann pulled on her jacket, making the engineer grimace a bit as she nodded her agreement, “but until we can build a proper unit, it might be the safest thing to do.”

“Yup”, Holtzmann had to agree, Abby and Patty nodding as well, “and hey, at least we got two ghosts trapped already for research. Once we figure out a way to actually research them without accidentally setting them free again.”

“Oh hell yeah”, Patty said, giving the other three a strict look, “no researching any ghosts when there’s danger that they’ll run amok in here! I’m a doctor, but I don’t want to patch any of us up after a ghost threw us around the way it tossed around that poor guy at the theatre.”

“I’ll build us some awesome gadgets to avoid that”, Holtzmann promised, “gadgets for which I will now get some new parts. See you guys later.”

“Don’t come back too late”, Erin said, making the engineer smile with her next words, “I was thinking maybe we could have dinner after work, before we pick up my stuff, so…?”

“Sure”, Holtzmann agreed at once, Erin smiling immediately as well; the engineer took a moment to bend down and steal a quick, but gentle kiss, then she headed out, Erin a bit belatedly noticing the way Abby was smiling at her, an odd gentleness in her gaze as their eyes met.

“You know”, Abby said, before Erin had to chance to ask, “not even when we were in college together, I think I’ve ever seen you like… this. So completely happy and content with everything. And it makes me happy.”

“Aw”, Erin let out while Patty smiled a bit, prompting the physicist to realize that the doctor probably still had no idea of what had happened between Abby and herself in the past; she wondered for a moment if she should tell her, then decided that she could do so later, not wanting to ruin the happy moment with Abby.

“I am, you know”, she added, Abby’s smile widening in response, “when I woke up in that hospital and realized what had happened to my leg, I didn’t think I’d ever feel this way again. But then… everything just worked out, you know? The ghosts, you coming back to my life, you becoming my friend, Patty, and Holtzmann of course, she makes me so happy.”

“Good thing if you’ll move in with her”, Abby commented, making Patty giggle while Erin blushed and shrugged; then, she smiled as well and just nodded, still smiling to herself as she got up from her seat on the bench and moved to her work desk, eager to get some calculations done before Holtzmann would come back.

* * *

“Oh wow”, Holtzmann said several hours later, as she entered Erin’s apartment with the physicist, looking around with raised eyebrows, “Erin, this place is… big. And… white. And grey.”

“You can say it”, Erin gave back with a roll of her eyes, the engineer taking note of the fact that she was moving a bit slower than usual still, apparently still plagued a big by pain in her leg, “it’s dull. Like my life was, before that accident.”

“Well, your life certainly isn’t dull anymore, right”, Holtzmann pointed out, smiling, and making Erin smile again as well while she nodded, “bet you didn’t expect any of that to happen when you left Columbia that evening.”

“Never in a million years”, Erin gave back with a small laugh, making the engineer smile and wink; then, she pulled the redhead close for a gentle kiss, a hint of mischief in her eyes when they pulled apart again and their gazes met.

“You know”, Holtzmann said, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her closer again, “we got here kinda early, so… if you feel like some… resting before we start packing your things…”

“Resting, huh”, Erin echoed, raising an eyebrow at the angelic smile Holtzmann gave her in response, “why do I find it hard to believe that any actual resting would be involved in this?”

“I have nooo idea”, Holtzmann replied, giving her a look of such perfect innocence that it made Erin laugh; she shook her head at the blonde’s antics, then reached out and grasped the collar of her jacket, pulling her closer until their lips met in a kiss which started out fairly tame, but soon became much more passionate.

“It’s a good thing I’m not tired”, Erin mumbled once they had pulled apart again, the sparkle in her eyes mirrored in Holtzmann’s, “because the kind of resting you suggested sounds very appealing right now.”

Holtzmann just grinned at her, making her smile back at her for another moment – before she tucked at her jacket, and prompted her to follow as Erin led the way to the bedroom, the engineer not truly surprised that said bedroom was as dull as the rest of the apartment.

She didn’t have much time to look at it though, as Erin distracted her quite quickly and successfully by pulling her close again and kissing her once more, simultaneously pushing her jacket down her arms, until it hit the floor.

“I always though this jacket would look good on the floor of your bedroom”, Holtzmann told her, and it was a cheesy line, even a bit dumb; but it still made Erin laugh, and so, it had fulfilled its purpose, Holtzmann grinning for a moment before she kissed Erin again, pushing her back now until they both landed on the bed, any thoughts of getting any actual packing up done forgotten just a few moments later.

* * *

Afterwards, the couple did pack up Erin’s stuff, as it had been planned; there wasn’t as much as Holtzmann had expected, mostly books, awards and clothes, as Erin apparently hadn’t been big on buying many decorations while she had been living in this place.

“We can pack up your kitchen utensils too, or leave them here”, Holtzmann said while Erin emptied her bathroom cabinets into a small travel bag, “I got enough stuff at my place, so we don’t really need it.”

“Let’s leave it here”, Erin gave back after considering this for a moment, “the person renting this place after me might be happy about it, and it’s not like this stuff is close to my heart. I think we got it all…”

Holtzmann nodded and smiled, excited – the last time she had lived with someone had been in college, and back then, it had been a simple roommate, no romance involved, and while she knew that Erin and she were doing this quite fast, she was sure that it wouldn’t turn out to have been a mistake, that things would work out just perfectly between them.

And judging from the happy smile on Erin’s face as they left the dull apartment together and headed down to get a cab, Erin felt the same, and this made Holtzmann happier than she had been in quite some time.


	32. Chapter 32

When they had gone to bed in Holtzmann’s apartment – _their_ apartment now, Erin had to correct herself – she had been somewhat worried that she might not be able to fall asleep anytime soon, as it always had taken her a few nights to adjust to a new bed in a new environment; and Holtzmann’s apartment not only was a new environment, but a slightly strange one, too, not as cluttered as Erin halfway had expected, but furnished and decorated in a way which just seemed to scream “Holtzmann”, from projects spread over all surfaces flat and big enough to the graffiti on one wall and the rather abstract painting on another.

There even was clutter on the left side of the bed, Holtzmann sheepishly explaining that she slept on the right while she quickly removed the stuff; luckily, it wasn’t much, and Holtzmann reassured Erin that none of it had been radioactive or dangerous in any other way, the physicist glad to see that the stuff hadn’t stained the sheets, either.

Holtzmann still had offered to put on fresh sheets, but Erin had told her it wasn’t necessary; she figured that she wouldn’t get much sleep either way, and didn’t want to make it a hassle for Holtzmann, not wanting to start them living together off with annoying the blonde.

The sheets had smelled clean and fresh anyway when they had gone to bed after having put Erin’s stuff away, and Holtzmann immediately had snuggled up to Erin, ending up as the bigger spoon somehow even though she was shorter than Erin; and when the alarm rang in the next morning, and tore her out of deep sleep, Erin was amazed to realize that she not only had fallen asleep quickly, but had slept deep and well, feeling better rested than she had in weeks.

“Good morning”, Holtzmann mumbled next to her, reaching over to her nightstand to switch off the alarm, “did you sleep well?”

“Surprisingly, yes”, Erin gave back, realizing she hadn’t told the engineer about her troubles about sleeping in new places at the surprised look she received, shrugging and smiling a bit sheepish before she continued.

“I usually have trouble sleeping when it’s in a new place”, she let the engineer know, “so I was kinda sorta expecting to not get much sleep tonight? But I fell asleep so fast and slept so good, it’s almost a miracle.”

“Aw”, Holtzmann let out, clearly happy to hear that Erin had had such a good rest in her new home, “well, I’m happy you slept well then, who knows, maybe my snoring has just the right frequency to be like calming vibrations for you.”

“Who knows”, Erin replied with a small laugh, making Holtzmann grin and wink at her; then, the engineer stole a quick good morning kiss before she asked Erin if she wanted the bathroom first, the physicist shrugging and telling her that she could go first if she wanted, pointing out that she still had to strap her leg on anyway.

“It’s a good thing you made it waterproof”, she added, kissing Holtzmann again before she let go of her and more or less allowed her to get out of bed, “showering while standing on one leg would have been difficult.”

“Yeah, I figured”, Holtzmann nodded as she pulled off her sleepwear right then and there, clearly not bothered by Erin seeing her naked – and making this one of the rare times Erin got a good look at her own prosthetic, the engineer usually making sure to keep it hidden beneath her clothing and gloves, if only to avoid questions about how it had been made.

Giving in to a sudden impulse, Erin got up from the bed and moved to Holtzmann’s side, the engineer watching curiously, but not making a move to stop her when she reached up and ran her fingers over the metal, the grey material warm to her touch after it had been warmed up in bed for hours.

She knew that Holtzmann couldn’t feel her touch – the prosthetic she had built together with her mentor was good, but not even their combined skill had been capable of performing such a feat – but Holtzmann still smiled, able to imagine how it would have felt all too well; she reached up with her other hand and touched Erin’s, then pulled her in for another quick kiss before she declared she would go have a shower now.

“Mind if I join you?” Erin blurted out before she could stop herself, and Holtzmann froze; and when she turned to look at her, she was grinning from ear to ear, the look on her face being answer enough for Erin, the physicist smiling as well as she moved to join her, the couple sharing another brief kiss before they vanished into the bathroom together.

* * *

Thanks to their shared shower and the fact that thus, it had gotten them quite a bit longer to get ready than it had been planned, they were fifteen minutes late when they arrived at the lab; Abby and Patty immediately took the chance given for teasing, Erin blushing brightly while Holtzmann just grinned a bit smugly, clearly not bothered by the fact that their friends and colleagues knew they’d been intimate right before going to work.

“I suppose moving in together worked out well then?” Abby smirked, Erin’s blush deepening in response while Holtzmann snickered and nodded; then, she practically bounced over to the coffee machine, asking Erin if she wanted some too, the physicist not surprised the slightest when Holtzmann didn’t even need to ask how she took her coffee.

“It worked out very well indeed”, the physicist then told Abby, her blush fading as she smiled, “it’s fast, yeah, but I got a good feeling about this. And I know Holtz has, too.”

“So do Patty and I”, Abby nodded at once, making Erin’s smile widen at how genuinely happy her friend was for Holtzmann and her, “you guys are good for each other, and I can tell you make each other happy.”

At this, Erin blushed again, touched; before she could say something though, and thank Abby for her kind words, the phone rang, making them all jump as they weren’t quite accustomed to getting actual calls yet, especially not so early in the morning.

Getting over her surprise quickly, Abby rushed to the phone and took the call, her eyes growing wide as she listened; her gaze moved to Erin, her unblinking stare making the physicist fidget nervously as she had no idea what the reason for this could be.

“Okay, sure”, Abby said after just having listened for a while, “we’ll be there as fast as possible. Yes, we won’t tell anyone you called us, no worries. Make sure to stay away from the entity until we arrive, alright?”

The caller said something else in response to that, and Abby reassured her once more that they would hurry; she told the person to take care, then hung up the phone, still looking a bit stunned when she glanced at Erin again.

“That was a woman named Dorothy Haynes”, she then said, Erin gaping at her as she immediately recognized the name, “calling from Columbia University. They got a ghost on the loose there.”


	33. Chapter 33

“Dorothy is the cleaning lady at Columbia who’s responsible for part of the floor my office was at”, Erin filled the others in on details about their latest caller as Holtzmann drove the Ecto-1 out of the garage, remembering to drive a bit less reckless this time, “and if she calls us instead of the dean or his secretary, I’m kind of sure they’re trying to hush it up. They might not be happy when we show up there.”

“Probably not”, Abby had to agree, figuring that Erin was right and that someone else would have called if Columbia had wanted them there officially, “but she sounded scared out of her mind, apparently, that ghost is going quite crazy over there. So we have to do our job and stop it, before someone gets hurt. She did ask me not tell anyone from the higher ups there that it was her who called us…”

“Then we won’t”, Erin agreed at once, making the other three nod, “we’re under no obligation to reveal our sources. Please, do remind me of this in case Filmore starts to get mean, before the accident, I… I was quite intimidated by him, and I’m not sure that’s fully gone.”

“No worries, babe”, Holtzmann gave back, the ease with which the term of endearment came from her making Erin smile again and making her feel better about confronting her former boss, “we got your back, if he tries to give you crap, we won’t let him.”

“I appreciate that”, Erin replied with a small laugh, reaching over to tenderly touch Holtzmann’s thigh; the engineer smirked back at her, then focused on the road again, mindful to not drive too recklessly again, even though all of them were eager to get to Columbia and see what was happening there.

Fortunately, the drive didn’t take too long, even with Holtzmann driving somewhat reasonably; she parked the car practically on the curb, Erin hoping that they wouldn’t get a ticket or maybe even come back to find the car had been towed as she got out of it, her palms sweaty and her heart beating fast in her chest.

Sensing her discomfort, Holtzmann reached out and took tender hold of her hand, earning a weak smile; concerned, Holtzmann asked her if she needed a minute, and Erin bravely shook her head, telling herself that she could do this.

Still she took in a deep breath as they removed their proton packs from the trunk and strapped them on, reminding herself of how she had stood up to Filmore when he had wanted her to quit, and that she could do this again, especially now, with an actual ghost tormenting the institution; and as they approached the front door, her hands stopped shaking and her heartbeat slowed again as a curious calm came over her.

And so, she looked calm and confident as she practically strode into the building, Holtzmann by her side and Abby and Patty right behind them; they earned some odd looks, and the professors and students who recognized her where whispering amongst each other, but nobody challenged them, the fact that so many of them were in the lobby a clear sign to Erin that something was wrong in this place indeed.

“We’re the Ghostbusters”, she said before anyone had a chance to ask her what she was doing there, with her strange clothes and the weird machine strapped to her back, “we received a call from this institution. Has any of you seen the ghost?”

For a few moments, nobody said anything, and it was so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop; and just when Erin started to think that not a single person would dare to speak up and say anything helpful, someone cleared their throat at the back of the small crowd, then stepped forward, and Erin was surprised to see it was one of the professors who never had bothered to speak more to her than he absolutely had to, never having seemed all too interested in getting to know her.

“I saw… something”, he said, glancing around nervously as if to make sure no one was sneering at him or judging him, clearing his throat before he went on, “I’m not sure it was an actual ghost, but… It was a sort of transparent figure, screeching as it flew through the hallway. Last time I saw it, it was up on the top floor.”

“Let’s check there then”, Abby said, PKE meter already in hand, the device blinking and showing it was active, but not reacting to anything yet; several of the people eyed it curiously, but nobody asked, the professor who had spoken up just nodding when Erin thanked him for his help.

Now that they had a proper location to check out, Abby took the lead, holding the PKE meter so that the others could see it too; and the moment they reached the top floor, it started to beep and blink and whir, Abby raising an eyebrow in surprise at how strong it suddenly was reacting, after how it had been dark and quiet the whole time.

“That ghost must have been up here for quite a while”, she said, making the others nod, “and doing quite a bit more than just floating around, or the PKE meter wouldn’t react like this. Now we just have to find it, before it can do even more of these things and maybe hurt someone.”

As if that had been a sort of cue, a loud crash came from somewhere down the hall, followed by a man crying out in terror and perhaps pain; Erin grimaced at once, earning a questioning look from Holtzmann, shrugging while she already pulled her proton wand from the holster, just to be ready for everything.

“Filmore’s office is over there”, she let the others know, “and that sounded a lot like him, even though I never heard him scream like that, so I’m not fully sure.”

“Guess we’re about to find out”, Holtzmann commented, readying her own proton wand as well; Abby and Patty followed suit, Abby tucking the PKE meter away since they didn’t really need it anymore to find the ghost, what with all the noise the apparition’s victim was making.

Even though Filmore hadn’t been exactly civil to her, Erin didn’t want him to get hurt, and so, she sped slightly, once more thankful for how well Holtzmann had made her prosthetic; as they got nearer to the dean’s office, the noises grew louder, Erin steeling herself for a possibly gruesome sight as she reached the door and pushed it open.

And then, she paused, not quite having expected the scene presenting itself to her.

At least, there was no blood, she thought to herself as for a few seconds, all she could do was stand and stare; the ghost, an angry looking man in clothes which she guessed put him in the 1920’s, had grabbed Filmore by one ankle and now was dangling him upside down over the floor, growling as he shook him, displaying his supernatural strength, the dean flailing and shouting helplessly in the ghost’s grip.

“Hey, bucko!” Erin called out, the ghost not having noticed them yet, too busy with tormenting Filmore, “why don’t you pick on someone your own size!”

“A classic line”, Holtzmann commented behind her, and Erin could practically hear the smirk on her face; she took a step forward out of the doorway so the others could enter the office, too, then pushed the trigger button on her proton wand, aiming carefully so she wouldn’t accidentally hit Filmore.

The ghost shrieked and let go of the man, a yelp coming from the dean as he hit the ground; he crawled beneath his desk quickly while Abby, Patty and Holtzmann hurriedly moved into the office to help Erin, the ghost thrashing against the proton streams wrapping around it.

From the corner of her eye, Erin noticed someone moving to stand in the doorway, but couldn’t allow herself to be distracted enough to look; if any of the other three noticed too, they didn’t bother to check, all of them focused on the ghost, and on capturing it before it might break free again and wreak some more havoc.

“Trap coming in three… two… one”, she heard Holtzmann count down, then the trap was pushed beneath the ghost and snapped open; it howled again as it realized what was happening, but couldn’t break free, the streams holding it firmly as the women started to wrangle it towards the trap.

“Going good, ladies!” Holtzmann called out, gritting her teeth as she felt the proton wand tremble in her hands when the ghost kept trying to break free; despite the apparition’s best efforts though, it was slowly forced closer to the trap, a final angered howl coming from it as it got sucked inside at last.

The trap snapped shut, and Erin let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding; she took her finger off the trigger, the other three doing the same, then exchanged happy, wide grins with her team mates, yet another ghost captured – and in the very place where she had been threatened with getting fired for her belief in ghosts, a fact which only made her feel better about this newest success.


	34. Chapter 34

As it turned out, Filmore was physically fine, just a bit bruised from his fall to the floor and shaken up from the ghost encounter; his gaze kept wandering to the trap as he thanked the Ghostbusters for their help, then moved back to Erin, and the amazement in his eyes forced her to hold back a smug smirk, and to fight the urge to sing-song “I told you so!” into his stunned face.

“Doctor Gilbert”, he finally regained his ability to speak, just in time to stop the group from leaving his office, Holtzmann having finished strapping the trap to her pack once it had stopped smoking, “I… it seems like on behalf of this institution, I owe you an apology.”

Erin just shrugged, not quite sure what to respond – she did agree that an apology might be fitting, but didn’t want to appear petty, and so, she said nothing, something which clearly made Filmore uncomfortable as he cleared his throat and suddenly found it quite hard to look her in the eye.

“Let me express my gratitude”, he finally added, still avoiding it to meet Erin’s gaze, even though his eyebrow twitched when Abby a bit gleefully informed him that they would bill the university for the bust, “and perhaps, you might find time some day in the near future to discuss a possible return to this institution?”

Holtzmann held her breath at hearing this – Erin had quit somewhat impulsively, and while she could tell that the physicist was happy with their new job, it wasn’t a paid position, and returning to Columbia would provide her with a steady paycheck again, something the engineer figured Erin would want and maybe even need in her life, if only for a certain stability.

“That is very kind of you”, Erin said, making the elder man smile, only for the smile to fade at what she said next, “but I’m in full employment with the Ghostbusters now, and that’s a full time job, so I’m sorry, I’ll have to decline your offer. We are looking for funding though, so if you would like to discuss this at some point…”

For a moment, she was sure that he would say no, that he’d tell her she’d have to return to Columbia and do this research on their terms or wouldn’t get anything at all; then, to her surprise, he gave a short nod and let her know he’d call her, Erin giving him a polite smile while Holtzmann felt relief at how fast the physicist had declined the offer, without even hesitating for a moment.

“We’ll talk, then”, Erin said, making him give that stiff nod again, “but for now, you’ll have to excuse us, we need to get this ghost back to the lab, this trap won’t hold it forever.”

It would, Erin knew, Holtzmann had made sure the traps would, until they’d have a bigger containment unit in which the ghosts could be stored; Filmore didn’t know this though, and he paled visibly, even took a step back as he nodded again, much more vigorous this time.

She gave him another polite smile, then left the office without another word; the other three women followed suit, Holtzmann grinning to herself at how easily and effectively Erin had dealt with the man and his offers, feeling oddly proud of her and happy that she hadn’t even considered going back to this place, glad that she would stay with the team.

“Did you see the look on his face when the ghost dropped him”, Patty snickered as they made their way back to the exit, Erin smiling as she thought back to that exact moment, “man, I can’t believe that ghost was shaking him around like that. I wonder what he did to piss that ghost off so much.”

“Probably just spoke to him”, Abby replied with a roll of her eyes, making Erin giggle as she nodded, “tried to tell him he’s not real or something.”

“Waved his diploma at him”, Erin added, making the other three laugh as well; the sound made her heart sing, and she grinned, said grin only widening when Holtzmann slung one arm around her shoulders.

“Good idea to ask him about funding”, the blonde said, making Abby and Patty nod enthusiastically, “with how shaken up he was after the ghost tossing him around, we might even get some good cash from this lovely institution.”

“If he tries to backpedal, we can threaten him with letting the ghost back out”, Abby suggested, Erin gasping in mock shock, “then he’s gonna cough some up for sure. After how he treated you, Erin, he’d deserve it.”

“Still, let’s not release a malevolent ghost at this place”, Erin gave back, Patty nodding at once, “I don’t think the ghost will keep in mind that we just want it to frighten Filmore.”

“Good point”, Abby had to nod, making Erin giggle again; and as they left the building and walked back to the car, she felt confident and good, suddenly sure that Columbia would fund them after all, and that this bust would be a turning point for them and their careers.

* * *

It only took a few hours for Erin to realize that the Columbia bust indeed had been an important one for the team, and more so than she had expected – because when Abby switched on the little TV in their lab so they had some background noise during dinner, the first thing they all saw was a video of them at the bust from this afternoon, filmed shakily and in not all too good quality, but well enough to let everyone who saw it tell what was happening on screen.

“Oh my God, look at this!” Abby called out, gaining the attention of the other three women, all four of them crowding around the TV and staring at the screen in amazement, “seems like we had a cameraman during that bust.”

“At least they got my good side”, Holtzmann commented, making Erin smile and reassure her that all of her sides were good; the engineer beamed at her and they shared a short, but gentle kiss, then looked at the TV again, just in time to see the video end with the ghost trapped and the program switching back to the newscaster.

“This amazing footage was provided for us from a source who wants to remain anonymous”, the man said, Erin remembering the figure she had seen in the doorway during the bust and realizing now that it had been either a student or professor who had filmed the whole thing, and now apparently had sold the story to this TV station, “an actual ghost haunting Columbia University. We’ve looked further into this and the four women you can see in this video, stay tuned for the details.”

“Oooh”, Patty let out, sounding gleeful and making the others smile as well, “we’re gonna be famous. They better not use my photo from the hospital website though, cause it’s old as Hell and I do not look like myself on it.”

“You guys”, Erin said excitedly, not caring one bit which photo of her they might use, “this is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for. A bit on TV about us, and he’s not doubting that any of this is real! We’ll get so many calls now, and maybe more funding, too, and… it’s all gonna be so great!”

She threw her arms around Holtzmann and hugged her, laughing, before she pulled the other two in as well, making it a group hug; and as they cheered and celebrated, they were unaware that across town, someone else was watching the program, as well, with hatred in their eyes and murder in their heart, eager to stop them before they could put an end to all the careful plans which had been set in motion months ago.


	35. Chapter 35

“Maybe we should hire someone to handle incoming calls and mail”, Abby said quite a while later as she looked at their official Ghostbusters e-mail account, eyes wide behind her glasses, “there’s quite a bit coming in. Someone to filter it, you know, so we don’t have to go through all the spam, I mean, look at this!”

She gestured at the screen and the myriad of e-mails waiting for someone to read them there, that someone apparently not being Abby herself, as she got up from her seat with another shake of her head; Erin agreed that someone who might help them with this and with the incoming calls might be a good idea, and the two women sat down to write an employment ad, Patty coming over after a while to help while Holtzmann was busy working on the plans for a bigger containment unit, all four aware that they would need a proper way to keep the ghosts they had captured so far from escaping and wreaking havoc again.

“That sounds good”, Patty declared once they had rewritten and changed the ad a few times, “I’ll go post this online, and send it to some friends of mine, one of them might know someone looking for a job.”

Erin nodded her agreement to that, then Holtzmann called out to her, prompting her to come to her feet immediately; Abby smirked at how eager Erin was to get to her girlfriend, and even though she didn’t make any comments, Erin blushed, clearing her throat as she went to where Holtzmann was sitting, the engineer brightly smiling up at her, smile only widening when Erin sat down next to her.

“Check this out”, she then said, gesturing at the plans she had been working on, “I’m almost done with the numbers for the big containment unit. Not sure where we’ll put it yet, but I’ll figure something out. Do me a favour and check the math for me?”

“Sure”, Erin replied at once, earning another bright smile which made her heart skip a beat, “give me an hour or so?”

“As long as you need, babe”, Holtzmann reassured her, leaning in for a quick kiss before she declared she needed more coffee and got up from her chair to get some; she asked Erin if she wanted some, too, and the redhead nodded distractedly, already looking at the plans Holtzmann had come up with.

Even though it shouldn’t have surprised her anymore after she had seen the things Holtzmann could build in action, from the prosthetics Erin and the engineer herself were using to the equipment Holtzmann had made for their ghostbusting jobs, Erin was impressed by the numbers as she went through them; she could easily figure out how Holtzmann had done the math, but like the engineer herself, it was unconventional, even a bit eccentric, and it made Erin raise an eyebrow more than once as she checked it.

“This is astounding”, she told Holtzmann once she had gotten done with the numbers, the engineer giving her another bright grin in response, “you’re brilliant, Holtzmann, this is amazing work.”

“Thank you”, Holtzmann said, with audible pride in her voice; Erin smiled at her and pulled her in for a brief kiss, then looked at the plans again, making a face as she realized fully how big the containment unit would be once they’d build it.

“For now, I think we can only put this up on the roof”, she told Holtzmann, making her grimace as well, “this thing is huge. Humongous, even.”

“I don’t think I ever heard anyone use the word _humongous_ in everyday conversation”, Holtzmann pointed out, making Erin smile slightly, her smile widening at what the engineer said next, “that’s kinda hot, you know. Wanna make out?”

“We are at work”, Erin reminded her, glancing around though to make sure Abby and Patty weren’t within earshot, “that wouldn’t exactly be… proper.”

“We’re our own bosses”, Holtzmann gave back at once, clearly having been prepared for this reasoning from the physicist, “and Abby and Patty are busy, they won’t notice. So. Wanna go to one of the booths and make out?”

“…sure”, Erin replied after a second, earning a bright grin from the engineer; quite eager, Holtzmann grasped her hand and pulled her up from the seat, then they hurried to one of the booths, the containment unit and the size it would have quite soon forgotten.

* * *

“I wonder how long it will take for anyone to answer our ad”, Erin said several hours later, as she entered their apartment with Holtzmann, the engineer letting out a vague noise in response, “and if any suitable people might be among those who do.”

“Hopefully”, Holtzmann gave back, pulling off her shoes as she talked, carelessly letting them drop where she stood while Erin lined hers up neatly next to the door, “I took a look at the e-mail account and Abby’s right, it’s insane. We gotta work through it sooner or later, there might be offers for funding hidden in there among the spam.”

“Good point”, Erin nodded, “and speaking of funding, I wonder if Filmore really will call, like he said. We could really use some bigger space, especially for that containment unit, I just don’t see the owner of that restaurant allowing us to build it on the roof.”

“I wouldn’t have asked”, Holtzmann replied, snickering at the shocked “Holtzmann!” Erin let out in response; she shrugged and gave the physicist an innocent look, then moved on to the kitchen, more or less smoothly changing the topic by asking her if she felt like having pancakes for dinner.

“Isn’t that more of a breakfast food”, Erin wanted to know, making the younger woman shrug before she pointed out that they were both adults and could have breakfast food for dinner if they felt like it; unable to argue with that logic, Erin smiled, then nodded, raising an eyebrow when Holtzmann promised her she wouldn’t regret this, telling her that she made the best pancakes in all of Manhattan.

“Sit down”, the engineer added, gesturing at one of the chairs at the kitchen table, “and enjoy the show.”

Smiling, Erin did so, and quickly learned that watching Holtzmann make pancakes was a show indeed; it was amazing, she thought to herself, now nimble her left hand was, if she hadn’t known it was a prosthetic, she never would have guessed, watching how the engineer cracked open eggs with ease, singing joyfully to herself as she prepared the pancakes.

Soon, a mouth-watering smell filled the kitchen, and Erin was glad that she hadn’t even tried to talk Holtzmann out of eating pancakes for dinner; and she felt only happier about this when the engineer generously slathered them with Nutella once they were done, licking her lips by the time the engineer put a plate down in front of her, Holtzmann grinning at the hungry look on her face.

“They’re my favourite with Nutella”, she said, making Erin nod at once – it wasn’t exactly healthy, but she didn’t care in this very moment, just eager to eat the chocolaty goodness, and so, they both dug in, Erin unable to hold back a low moan at how good the food tasted.

“These are amazing”, she said, licking her lips again and making Holtzmann grin once more, “you didn’t exaggerate when you said you make the best pancakes in all of Manhattan. Maybe in all of New York.”

“Told ya”, Holtzmann gave back, shovelling a forkful of food into her mouth afterwards; Erin proceeded to do the same, and not long afterwards, the pancakes were gone, a hint of mischief in Erin’s eyes when she looked up at the engineer as she pushed her plate aside.

“You know”, she then said, taking hold of the Nutella jar and prompting Holtzmann to raise an eyebrow, “I’m sort of up for desert. What about you?”

Holtzmann’s mouth went dry as she watched Erin get up and carry the jar to the bedroom; and a second later, she hurried to get up and follow, licking her lips for a completely different reason now, very much looking forward to the desert Erin just had promised.


	36. Chapter 36

Erin felt happy and relaxed and confident when she left the apartment in the next morning together with Holtzmann and the two of them made their way to the restaurant; the desert they had enjoyed after dinner had a big part in making her feel this way, and the good feelings from the press’ reaction to the previous day’s bust helped, as well, the fact that the newscaster hadn’t doubted the truth of the filmed bust for a second making her smile each time she thought of it.

So, she was smiling as Holtzmann held the restaurant door open for her, and still as she climbed the stairs; once she reached the top though and thus, their lab, her smile faltered, then faded, her eyes going wide as she looked around.

The lab looked as if a bomb had gone off right in the middle of it, bits and pieces of equipment and of their research strewn everywhere; behind her, she could hear Holtzmann gasp, but couldn’t look away from the carnage and at her, unable to stop staring as she tried to figure out what had happened.

Then, her ears popped, and the fine hair at the back of her neck stood up straight, her eyes going wide again as she realized what this meant.

She felt the ghost more than she saw it as it rushed at them from where it had been hidden in one of the booths, but she reacted on pure instinct, turning and practically tackling Holtzmann to the ground; the ghost had gained too much momentum at this point to correct its course, and it flew over them with an angry shriek, Erin staring in disbelief when she realized it was Gertrude Aldridge.

“What the…!” Holtzmann had time to say from beneath her, then another ghost appeared literally out of nowhere, growling as it flapped massive, bat-like wings; they quickly recognized it as the one they had captured at the Stonebrook Theatre, and Holtzmann let out a groan as she realized what had happened.

“Equipment”, she brought out as Erin rolled off of her and they both hurriedly got to their feet, “we need equipment to trap them again, now!”

Now they were glad that the space above the restaurant was limited, as it didn’t take them long to reach said equipment; there was no time to strap the proton packs on properly, but they both figured it would have to do to wear them like a sort of backpack, Erin wondering if Holtzmann’s heart was racing in her chest as fast as her own as she grabbed the proton wand and aimed it at Gertrude Aldridge.

Pushing down the trigger button, Erin fired, feeling darkly satisfied when the beam immediately caught Gertrude and kept her from moving; the ghost angrily shrieked at her, and she had a second to wonder why Holtzmann wasn’t firing, as well, a quick glance at the blonde showing her that she was busy strapping the proton gun she already had presented back at the hospital to her artificial arm.

“Just another second”, Holtzmann reassured her, having noticed her brief glance; there were sparks again when the wires connected, but this time, Holtzmann didn’t grimace, too focused on the task at hand to let something like sparks distract her.

She took a second to aim, then punched the air in front of her, having a moment to hope that it would actually work – she still hadn’t had a chance to test the weapon, with the team up until now having focused on capturing the ghosts instead of damaging or even destroying them – and she was glad to see it did work; a brightly glowing ball of proton energy shot from the weapon and towards Gertrude, a cry coming from the ghost when it connected, spatters of ectoplasm dripping to the floor.

“Yes!” Holtzmann cheered, pumping her other fist in victory – before she noticed movement from the corner of her eye and spun around, just in time to see the winged demon ghost fly at her, sharp teeth bared as it rushed towards her.

Hurriedly, she made use of her weapon again, the bolt of energy hitting the winged ghost square in the face; it roared, Holtzmann wasn’t sure if it was a roar of pain or anger, but whatever it was, it had been enough to make it change its mind about attacking her, as the ghost flew up in an oddly graceful arc, then rushed towards the window, crashing through the glass and vanishing from view a moment later.

“Damn”, Erin cursed, not taking her eyes off the still captured Gertrude, but having noticed what was going on with their winged guest anyway, “it got away?!”

“Sorry”, Holtzmann apologized, grabbing her own proton wand now to help Erin with re-capturing Gertrude; thankfully, an empty trap was strapped to the bottom of her pack, and even though she wasn’t quite sure it would work with just two streams instead of four, she tossed it out, figuring it was worth a try.

“What the Hell?!” she heard Abby cry out as they struggled to get Gertrude into the trap, the researcher running for her own pack a second later, both Holtzmann and Erin glad that she had arrived; it was decidedly more difficult to get the ghost into the trap with just three streams instead of four, but finally, after several minutes of struggling with Gertrude, she was back in the trap, all three women sweating and breathing heavily by the time it snapped shut and securely locked her away once again.

“What happened?” Abby demanded to know, wiping sweat off her forehead, Erin shrugging helplessly as she lowered the proton wand, “I did not expect my day to start with that damned winged demon ghost whooshing past my head just when I arrive at work!”

“I don’t know”, Holtzmann grumbled, looking around as if the answers might jump at her from the chaos in the lab, “we arrived just a few minutes before you and the place looked like this. Apparently our guests broke free, but I don’t know how that could have happened, I _know_ I built the traps so that they can’t just get out whenever they fell like taking a stroll.”

“We better check those traps”, Erin suggested, glad that her racing heart was finally slowing down to a more normal rate again, “just to be on the safe side. Not that I doubt your engineering skill but…”

Sighing, Holtzmann nodded, holstering her proton wand; Erin did the same, and just when Abby put her wand away, as well, a shriek came from right above them, all three looking up in shock as the ghost they had captured at Columbia University came rushing down at them, apparently with the intention to dive-bomb them.

Once again, Erin was the first to react, pushing Abby out of the way while Holtzmann ducked down, then brought up her artificial arm and slammed it forward as hard as she could; the proton bolt hit the ghost and, with a cry which definitely was one of pain, it exploded, slime raining down on all three women, splattering their hair and clothes.

“Ugh”, Erin let out, wiping at the slime which had landed on her face to get it out of her eyes, “this stuff is so disgusting. Are you guys okay?”

“Fine”, Holtzmann gave back, grimacing as some slime had gotten onto her artificial arm and the weapon strapped to it; worried about getting either damaged, she carefully removed the weapon and put it on the nearest table, then sighed as she looked at the broken window, shaking her head in dismay.

“But now we only got one ghost left”, she pointed out, making Erin grimace as well, “and another one on the loose again. Once Patty gets here, we should see if we can track our winged friend down and put him back into a trap. And speaking of the traps, I better see how all three of our guests could actually escape them.”

Nodding, Erin removed her proton pack, taking Holtzmann’s from her when the engineer pulled it off her back as well and handed it to her; then, the blonde made her way to the cupboard in which they had kept the traps, stopping dead in front of it though, her eyes going wide, her sudden quietness and the stiff way she stood there prompting Erin and Abby to both walk over and see if she was okay.

“What is it”, Erin wanted to know, giving Holtzmann a worried glance, “they didn’t malfunction, did they? Holtz? What’s wrong?”

“They didn’t”, Holtzmann replied, looking sick when she glanced at her girlfriend, her next words making Erin and Abby gasp as well, both immediately grasping the implications of what Holtzmann just had said, of what it might mean for the whole team.

“They didn’t malfunction”, Holtzmann said again, swallowing heavily before she could continue, her gaze returning to the traps, “they were opened.”


	37. Chapter 37

“Who would do that”, Erin demanded to know, staring at the traps in shock, Holtzmann and Abby both shrugging helplessly in response, “sneak into here after hours and set the ghosts free?!”

“I have a hunch”, Abby told her, while Holtzmann took a closer look at the traps, making sure they had only been opened and not actually damaged, not touching them though as she figured that perhaps, fingerprints or something else might be on them which might help them figure out who had done this, “remember our friend from the hospital?”

“You think?” Erin gave back, raising an eyebrow, realizing that it made quite a bit of sense – after all, they had found devices like the one Abby and Patty had photographed at the hospital at their bust sites, and with the coverage their latest bust had gotten, they might have attracted the unwanted attention of the person who had threatened Erin at the hospital all those months ago.

“Makes sense”, Holtzmann said out loud what she was thinking, “I mean, we do know that someone is causing these ghosts to get strong enough so they can actually manifest, with those devices we keep finding. And now that we have been on the news…”

Erin nodded along, telling Holtzmann that she had said just what Erin herself had been thinking; the engineer smiled at her, then sighed, giving the traps an unhappy look, the questioning look Erin gave her prompting her to elaborate.

“I really should have made those more secure”, she admonished herself, shaking her head, “so some maniac can’t just walk in from the street and open them whenever they feel like it.”

“That’s not your fault”, Erin said at once, earning a doubtful look from the younger woman, “none of us could expect this would happen, if you’d had even the smallest idea, you would have made it so that not anyone can open them.”

Holtzmann let out a sigh in response, clearly not willing to let herself off the hook so fast; feeling bad for her, Erin reached out and placed one hand on her back, glad when the engineer gave her a small smile, even though said smile didn’t quite reach Holtzmann’s eyes.

“Should we call someone?” Abby wanted to know, looking from the empty traps to the couple, “the police? I mean, this person did break in here, and might have damaged some of our equipment, too. Holtzmann, you gonna take a look at it just to make sure?”

Holtzmann nodded, making a face at the idea of some culprit messing with her inventions; they couldn’t be sure that the mess all over the lab had been caused by the ghosts though and not by the unknown person during a rampage through the space, and so, she figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

“I’ll help”, Erin offered, and just then, the phone rang, making them all jump as none of them had expected a call to happen again so fast; Abby was closest to the phone, and so she was the one to pick it up, raising an eyebrow when she was greeted in a rather unfriendly tone by someone who introduced himself as “Agent Rorke”.

“You captured a ghost at the Stonebrook Theatre, did you not”, the man demanded before Abby had the chance to say anything else than “hello”, “a winged demon like apparition, correct?”

“A class 4, yes”, Abby replied, Erin and Holtzmann moving closer to have a chance to hear the person on the other end of the line, “and if you are calling about it escaping, we are aware of this, we’ll head out and recapture it once the fourth member of our team is here.”

“No need”, the man replied, making her raise an eyebrow, “I’m calling on behalf of the mayor, to let you know that the situation is being taken care of. And the mayor wants to see you, this afternoon, his office, at two.”

Before Abby could agree or disagree to that meeting, the man hung up, and she blinked at the receiver; then, she shook her head and hung it up as well, turning to look at her colleagues afterwards, both of them staring back at her curiously, not having been able to pick up much of what the caller had been saying despite having moved closer.

“Guess we should call Patty”, she said after a moment, shaking her head at how rude the caller had been, “that was some guy apparently named Agent Rorke, telling us that the mayor knows about the escaped ghost and that he wants to meet us in his office at two. Guess things are getting official for us now, ladies.”

“Huh”, Erin let out, not sure if this was good or bad; Abby just shrugged, neither of them sure what to expect from this, but quite sure that it wouldn’t be a completely positive meeting, either, all three of them hoping that things would be fine despite the strange, rude way this invitation had been issued to them.

* * *

Fortunately, Patty had managed to get off of work in time for the meeting with the mayor; he was waiting for them in his office, showing that the call hadn’t been a fluke or a sick joke, his PA standing by his side, the stern-looking woman introducing herself as Jennifer Lynch to the group while they all sat down, Erin reaching over to stop Holtzmann from putting her feet up onto the mayor’s desk at the last possible moment.

“Welcome, ladies, welcome”, the mayor said once they all had taken a seat, “thank you for making it here at such short notice.”

“Well, your agent Rorke didn’t give us much of a chance to accept or decline”, Abby pointed out; in response, one of the two men in black suits standing to the side cleared his throat, the stuffier looking of the two, shrugging when Abby looked at him.

“I’m Agent Rorke”, he said, then gestured at the man next to himself, “and this is Agent Hawkins. We are not the mayor’s agents, per se, but we are in constant contact with him about this issue of paranormal activity drastically increasing in New York lately.”

“With our support”, Jennifer Lynch threw in, “we are very aware of what has been going on in this town lately, and of your part when it comes to stopping it. For that, the mayor would like to thank you.”

Erin had a moment to wonder why the mayor didn’t thank them himself, seeing he was standing right there, but then shrugged it off, as the second agent – Hawkins, Erin remembered his name was – cleared his throat, making them all look at him.

“We are also aware that a breach of your lab happened the other night”, he told them, all four women gaping at him as he continued, “and our surveillance team has picked up video of the culprit, so we are positive that we will have him soon. It’s reasonable to assume that the man who freed the ghosts in your lab also is behind the rise of paranormal activity.”

“Your surveillance team?!” Abby repeated, sounding annoyed, the man at least having the grace to look a bit bashful, “you’ve been watching us? And you were gonna tell us this when?”

“We were just making sure no one would get hurt”, Rorke threw in, something Erin quite doubted, but she didn’t bother to argue back, figuring it wouldn’t lead anywhere, “you _are_ civilians after all, the four of you. Civilians with impressive equipment, but civilians nonetheless.”

“Thank you”, Holtzmann dryly responded to the compliment about their equipment; Rorke gave her a brief, tight smile, then Jennifer Lynch cleared her throat, turning the laptop on the desk so that the women could see the screen.

“Surveillance or not”, she said, “this is the footage we got of the culprit. We are working on identifying him, and we figured you have a right to see it.”

They all nodded their agreement to that, and Jennifer pushed a button on the laptop; the screen came to life, showing a decidedly average looking man sneaking towards the restaurant’s back door, glancing around as he started fiddling with the look, Patty letting out an audible gasp when his face could be properly seen for the first time.

“I know this guy!” she then cried out, everyone in the room staring at her in response, clearly not having expected this, “he worked at the hospital, he quit a few weeks after Erin had been released. He was on the cleaning crew.”

“Oh my God!” Erin was the next to gain attention, eyes going wide, Holtzmann reaching over to grasp her hand reassuringly, a gesture not unnoticed by the mayor and his people, “yes! He came to clean my room a few times, and tried to make small talk, but it was so awkward. His name was… Ronald? Roland?”

“Rowan”, Patty corrected her, “Rowan North. And yeah, he was not good with small talk, I remember that about him.”

“Rowan North, you say”, Rorke said, noting the name down, “well, this is very helpful, and something we certainly didn’t expect from this meeting. Thank you for your assistance.”

Apparently, they were dismissed now, as the mayor started to tell them about how they had to be more discreet about their work while Jennifer Lynch stopped the video; the mayor still told them to call if they needed anything, then the agents practically ushered them out, none of them truly minding the quick dismissal though, exchanging looks as they left the office, somehow just knowing that they had to find this man before the agents would, not quite sure that the men would be able to handle whatever North was ready to throw at them.


	38. Chapter 38

“Okay”, Holtzmann said as they drove back to the lab, for once not only not driving recklessly, but actually keeping to the speed limit, making Erin wonder if this was caused by the knowledge that the agents were watching them, even though this would have surprised her, considering how little Holtzmann usually cared about what others thought of her, “so now we know his name. The big question is, how are we gonna find him?”

“No idea”, Erin had to admit, making a face; in the backseat, Abby shrugged, as well, but Patty looked thoughtful, even let out a small “hmmm” which made Abby and Erin look at her, Erin having to turn backwards in the passenger seat to do so, while Holtzmann thankfully kept her eyes on the road.

“I might have an idea”, she said, “but it might not be exactly… legal, so perhaps we should not discuss it at the lab. You know, if they’re listening to us there.”

“I can’t believe they had us under surveillance”, Abby grumbled, thinking back to that unpleasant revelation at the mayor’s office, “and you can’t tell me it was just to make sure we wouldn’t get hurt. I bet they suspected we’re behind the ghosts appearing, like creating our own work or something. Jerks.”

“Possible”, Erin mumbled, not liking the thought of being under suspicion for something like this, but having to admit that it was a possibility indeed, “but well, they know now it wasn’t us, so… at least we don’t have to worry about that anymore? Dang, we should have asked if they’ll keep watching us in the future.”

“We should have, yeah”, Abby agreed, then made a face again, “but who says they would have been honest? They could have said no and still go on watching us. Good thing we’re not doing anything illegal… wait, Holtzmann, we aren’t, right?”

“Weeeeeell”, Holtzmann let out, making Abby raise an eyebrow while Patty just sighed and Erin, to her own surprise, found herself smiling, “dumpster diving is sort of a grey area? But I guess they don’t mind, or they would have told me to cut it out.”

“Anyway”, Patty brought the talk back to their previous talk, “I might know a way to find out more about our friend Mr North. Just let me make a few calls and see where they lead, if they’re a dead end, we’ll need to see what else we can come up with.”

They all nodded, not asking her about any details, figuring that she’d tell them once they could be sure nobody would be listening in; and once they were back at the restaurant, Patty went to make her calls, the other three waiting for her return, pondering what they might find once Rowan had been located and what they would do then, if they could risk seeking him out directly or if they should leave it to the agents, not having an idea of what to expect from him.

* * *

“Alright”, Patty said as she came back into the lab, her smile signalling that her calls had gone well, “what I just did might be questionable when it comes to data protection, but I know now where our friend is working now.”

“How’d you find out”, Holtzmann wanted to know, curious; Patty shrugged, then told her that she had called a colleague at the hospital’s HR department, and had gotten Rowan’s birth date and his social security number from said colleague, then had made another call, to a source she’d rather not name, but a source which, with the extra information, had been able to tell her where Rowan was working now.

“At the Mercado Hotel”, she added, the other three women looking impressed at how easily she had managed to acquire this information, “honestly, I’m not even surprised he was drawn there if he’s into ghosts, a lot of creepy stuff happened there even before it became a hotel.”

“Guess we better gear up then”, Erin said, making the other nod, “and pay him a surprise visit there. Maybe stop him before he can finish whatever he is planning.”

“And we should get there before our friends in black find him too”, Holtzmann added, already grabbing her proton puncher and strapping it to her artificial arm, “because for some weird reason, I doubt they’d be capable of handling it, should he unleash a ghost at them or something.”

“Good point”, Erin agreed, taking hold of her pack; the others grabbed their own equipment, all of them glad that it hadn’t been damaged when Rowan had broken into the restaurant, well aware of the possibility that he might indeed have ghosts more or less ready to attack them.

“Alright then”, Abby said once they all were ready, “let’s go and stop him before he can cause any more chaos than he already did.”

“Let’s kick ass”, Holtzmann added, grinning; smiling at her enthusiasm, Erin pulled her in for a brief, but gentle kiss, then the team headed off to the garage, Holtzmann this time driving a bit faster than allowed, but for once, nobody told her to slow down, all of them eager to stop Rowan before he could finish whatever warped plan he had come up with.

* * *

The receptionist at the hotel wasn’t exactly friendly or welcoming, and her gaze only darkened further when Abby told her that they were looking for Rowan North; she rolled her eyes in response, asking what he had done now – before she claimed that she didn’t want to know after all and let them know that he could be found in the basement.

“Of course”, Erin mumbled as they walked to the stairs the woman had pointed out to them, “he does have a thing for basements. Why am I not surprised?”

Holtzmann snickered in response, then fell silent again as they reached the bottom of the stairs and could hear a loud humming sound; they four women looked at each other, all of them noticing the odd tension in the air, as if it was this close to crackling with electricity, a clear sign that they were on the right path.

They moved as quietly as possible, the humming growing louder as they walked through the uncomfortably dark, narrow hallways; Erin found herself wondering if nobody else ever came down there, but then, she realized, the basement of the hospital had looked pretty much the same, the ideal location for building devices and messing around with ghosts for someone like Rowan.

She felt her heart beat faster as a strange light flashed up ahead, the way Abby raised an eyebrow at her showing that she had seen it, too; they crept around the corner and found themselves looking at a surprisingly large room, the machine Rowan had built taking up most of the space, Erin gaping at the sophisticated looking construction, having to admit that the man had done an impressive job, even though he was using it to unleash ghosts on New York.

Said man himself was in front of his machine, with his back to them, apparently not having noticed them yet; he was bent over some part of the large device, working on it, flinching visibly when Abby raised her voice and told him to step away from the machine.

“Well, well, well”, he said, looking at them with a raised eyebrow, nothing but contempt and disdain in his gaze and voice, and no fear at all, Erin noticed with a bit of dismay, “it’s the Ghostbusters. I’m impressed you found me so fast.”

“Shouldn’t have broken into our lab, man”, Patty said, unimpressed by the baleful glare he sent her way in response, “we got a pretty good picture of you during that little stunt.”

“And of course you remembered me”, he said, “even though we barely spoke during the time I worked at the hospital. Had I known that you have cameras set up, I would have worn a mask.”

“Too bad you didn’t”, Abby snarked, not liking his tone and the way he was looking at them, as if he wasn’t bothered by the fact that they had found him and his little project at all, “now step away from that machine. Police is on the way, it’s over.”

“It is, isn’t it”, Rowan agreed surprisingly fast, surprising all four of them, “guess I really should have worn that mask.”

He gave them a smile, an odd sparkle in his eyes now – before he moved with unexpected speed, reaching out with both hands and grabbing parts of his machine, his body beginning to jerk and jump unnaturally immediately as electricity cursed through him.

Wide-eyed, Erin took a step back while Patty cried out “shit!”; with smoke rising from his body, Rowan collapsed, Patty rushing to his side, her trained eye quickly telling her that there was no hope for the man, but still she had to try, beginning with chest compressions while Holtzmann hurried to the still humming machine.

“I did not see that coming”, Abby told Erin, unable to look away from Rowan’s body; Erin could just nod, the sound of sirens coming up in the distance while Patty kept doing CPR on Rowan and Holtzmann was working on the machine, Erin suddenly quite sure that this was far from over, even though she couldn’t quite put her finger on where this was coming from.


	39. Chapter 39

Quite a while later, after the Ghostbusters had given their statement to the police, Erin and Holtzmann were back at their apartment, Holtzmann sitting on the couch and Erin halfway lying on it, halfway in her lap; they had found a copy of the book Abby had put online before Erin’s accident and she was leafing through it, thinking back to the hours Abby and she had spent writing this, during long nights at college, with the aid of endless ramen packages and energy drinks and coffee.

“You know”, she said as she snapped the book shut and put it on the table in front of the couch, “maybe it should concern me more that he apparently used our research to build his weird machine, but instead, I feel kinda flattered that he bought our book. Does that make me weird?”

“A little”, Holtzmann replied with a smirk, one of her hands playing with Erin’s hair while the other was on the backrest of the couch, her smirk widening a bit at the huff Erin let out in response, “but that’s a good thing, cause I like weird.”

“Lucky me”, Erin smiled, propping herself up on her elbows so she could steal a quick kiss from Holtzmann; the engineer grinned back at her, then let her know that she would get started on dinner, making the physicist nod in response, a bit regretfully though as this meant that she lost her comfortable pillow and had to use the couch’s backrest instead.

As she sat up to do just that, she grimaced a bit at the momentary flash of pain this sent through her leg; she knew that this was to be expected, and that she would have to deal with it a bit longer, but still it dismayed her, and after a moment, she decided to take the prosthetic off for a little while, figuring it might be a good idea to give her leg some rest.

“You okay over there?” Holtzmann wanted to know, having noticed what Erin was doing; she shrugged, then nodded, smiling at her girlfriend as she removed the prosthetic and put it on the floor next to the couch, where it would be within easy reach.

“Fine”, she then confirmed verbally as well, leaning back into the couch, the sight of how the right leg of her pants now flat just beneath her knee not hurting as much anymore as it previously had, “it just hurt a little, so I figured I’d give it some rest.”

Holtzmann nodded her agreement to that, then focused on preparing dinner again – nothing all too fancy, just a simple stir fry, but still she didn’t want to ruin it by using sugar instead of salt or with some similar mistake; for a while, Erin watched her move around the kitchen, then looked at the book on the table again, thinking back to the strange hunch she had had back at Rowan’s basement lab, to the odd feeling that this wasn’t over, despite how the man had died in front of them.

“Let me ask you something”, she thus said, making Holtzmann look at her again, curious this time, “do you believe in… hunches?”

“Yes”, Holtzmann gave back at once, to her relief, but then, Erin figured, this shouldn’t truly have surprised her, after all, for someone who hunted and studied ghosts for a living, believing in something like hunches didn’t seem too far-fetched, “why? You having one?”

“Sort of”, Erin told her, looking at the book again, then picking it up once more and leafing through it distractedly, more to keep her hands busy than for any other reason, “I sorta had one at Rowan’s lab? I don’t know, I just… I got this feeling that it’s not over, even with him dead on the floor right there. Maybe it’s nothing, but…”

Her gaze fell on the page she absent-mindedly had opened, and she trailed off, eyes now glued to the page; noticing her sudden silence, Holtzmann got worried and moved to her side, feeling a chill run up her spine when she saw what had caused Erin to fall silent.

Erin had opened the book to one of the pages farther back, and it was covered in disturbing drawings, of ghosts attacking and killing people, the words “4th Cataclysm” scrawled next to the drawings, the vague idea that things hadn’t quite been resolved with Rowan’s suicide growing stronger within Erin again as she stared at the drawings.

With a slightly trembling hand, just enough to let Holtzmann notice, she turned the page, revealing more disturbing drawings; and another turn of the page revealed the worst one they had seen so far, of a gigantic Rowan, baring pointy teeth at the tiny people he held in one fist while the other slammed into a building, fire in his eyes, the detail he had put into the drawing only making Erin feel more disturbed.

“Yikes”, Holtzmann said, putting one hand on the physicist’s shoulder as she could tell how much seeing this was affecting her, “that’s… creepy. In a bad way.”

“That was his plan all along”, Erin gave back, running a shaking hand through her hair as she craned her neck to look at her girlfriend, “to die and to become a ghost. Maybe he would have killed himself today either way, no matter if we had found him or not…”

“We better warn the others”, Holtzmann said, making a face, “just in case his plan did work out. Man, it’s too bad we don’t know why someone actually becomes a ghost when they die.”

“Unfinished business”, Erin said, snapping the book shut, not wanting to look at those horrifying drawings anymore, “that is one theory, at least. And if his goal was to die so he could become a ghost and cause whatever this fourth cataclysm is… Well, I guess that does count as unfinished business.”

Holtzmann had to agree with that, not liking the thought of a ghost Rowan out there somewhere, ready to hurt people the way he had depicted it in his drawings; and Erin agreed with her about warning the others, grabbing her phone and dialling Abby first to tell her about what she had discovered in Rowan’s copy of the book while Holtzmann went back to making dinner, both of them quietly hoping that their worries would turn out to be unfounded after all and that Rowan would not come after them yet again.

* * *

If Rowan had indeed become a ghost, he didn’t do anything with this newfound state, not during that night; Erin had, after warning Abby and Patty, called the men in black too, just to be on the safe side, and they had been surprisingly open about her theory, even having gone as far as promising her that they would call, should anything come up.

Nobody had called, to her relief, and she allowed herself to hope that perhaps, nothing would happen after all, that Rowan’s plan hadn’t worked out and that he hadn’t become a ghost when he had died; she figured that they would find out sooner or later if this was the case, and hoped that she was right, that he simply had died and gone on to the afterlife instead of sticking around as a ghost.

“Tonight, I’ll make dinner for us”, she told Holtzmann as they climbed the stairs leading up to their lab, “I’m starting to feel bad because since I’ve moved in with you, you’ve cooked all of our food.”

“I don’t mind”, Holtzmann replied, smiling at her, “I enjoy cooking, and even more now that I have someone to share it with. But if you want to whip up an Erin Gilbert special, I won’t say no.”

“It won’t be anything special”, Erin said, smiling slightly as well, “but it _should_ be edible. Good morning Abby!”

The last three words were said slightly louder, so Abby, who was standing at the coffee machine, could hear her; Abby flinched slightly, apparently not having heard them come in, and turned to look at them, smiling.

“Good morning Erin”, she then said, moving away from the coffee machine and to Holtzmann’s table of scraps, “good morning, Jillian.”

Erin just had a moment to realize that Abby had called Holtzmann by her first name, something she never had heard her do before, and how odd this was… and then, Abby grabbed hold of a sturdy looking piece of pipe, marched to where the proton packs hung on the wall and started beating down on them, and all of Erin’s hopes that the Rowan situation was over where dashed to pieces right along with the equipment Abby was attacking.


	40. Chapter 40

Holtzmann and Erin started forward at exactly the same moment, knowing they had to stop Abby before serious damage could be done to the proton packs; Erin didn’t know if Holtzmann was aware that this wasn’t Abby herself doing this, and she wasn’t sure if she should call out to her and alert her about this, not wanting to let Rowan know that she knew.

“Stop it!” Holtzmann shouted when Rowan used Abby’s body again to slam the pipe down onto the packs; she reached him first and grabbed Abby’s arm, and for a few moments, they wrestled – before Rowan managed to get the pipe across her chest and violently pushed her away, with enough force to send her flying, a low grunt coming from her when she hit the ground.

Every instinct Erin had screamed at her to make sure Holtzmann was okay, but she could see the engineer struggle to sit up from the corner of her eye, and she knew that Rowan had to be stopped; and so, she kept her focus on Abby, not quite sure what she could do to end the possession, but knowing she had to do _something._

Her plans were destroyed before they even could form when Rowan used Abby’s body to effortlessly reach out and grasp her around the throat, her eyes going wide when, with no apparent effort, she was lifted off her feet moments later.

“Abby”, she managed to croak out, knowing it wasn’t her friend doing this to her, but hoping that perhaps, she could reach her this way, stop this from happening; if Abby could hear her though, she couldn’t do anything, Rowan using her face to sneer at her as he swiftly carried her through the room, ignoring how she helplessly beat down on Abby’s arm.

She felt her back hit something momentarily solid, then glass shattered behind her, some shards digging painfully into her back; grinning at her, Rowan clearly enjoyed himself as he dangled her out the window, the venom in Abby’s voice so uncharacteristic when he spoke up that it made Erin’s skin crawl.

“Look at the view”, he said, holding her for a moment longer, just long enough to let her see how behind him, Holtzmann started to run… and then, he let go of her, and she fell, crying out in panic.

Her fall ended much sooner than expected when Holtzmann lunged forward and somehow managed to grab hold of her arm in the last possible moment; she hit the side of the building, and that hurt, but she figured it would have hurt much more to actually hit the ground, feet scrambling for support while she reached up to grab on to Holtzmann with her other hand.

“I got you, I got you”, Holtzmann was saying as she held on to Erin, sweat trickling down her cheeks; she could feel her artificial arm strain against the cup-like construction it had been mounted to, and she hoped it would hold, just long enough so she could pull Erin back inside and into relative safety.

And just when she thought that she would manage, Abby’s hands wrapped around her throat from behind and started squeezing, Erin crying out as Holtzmann gasped, unable to fight back, knowing she would drop Erin if she’d try.

She struggled to get breath into her lungs, and to hold on to Erin, her artificial arm feeling dangerously loose by now; Erin apparently noticed this, as well, moving to hold on to her right arm with both hands, and it was good that she had done so, because just a second later, the arm shifted visibly and then fell, hitting the sidewalk with an audible clatter which would have made Holtzmann wince, if she’d had the air to do so.

She had a moment to ask herself how they should get out of this now, with Abby choking her and Erin so close to falling… and just then, all of a sudden, Abby’s hands were gone from her throat and she was yanked away, Patty demanding to know in a harsh voice what the Hell was going on.

Taking the chance given, Holtzmann pulled with all her strength, leaning backwards simultaneously; and thankfully, it worked, and she managed to pull Erin back inside, the physicist gasping and trembling as she landed on the floor next to her.

“She’s possessed”, Erin brought out despite her obvious shock as Patty was struggling with Abby, “Rowan, he… it’s Rowan, Patty!”

Thankfully, Patty didn’t question her, not that she had much time to do so, anyway, with Abby trying to punch her; more out of reflex than conscious thought, Patty smacked her hard across the face, and apparently that had been a good thing to do, as a shimmering blue figure was practically catapulted out of Abby’s body, hanging in the air for a moment and laughing maliciously – before it flew through the broken window and was gone, the four women staring after it as they all tried to fully comprehend what just had happened.

* * *

“Oh my God”, Abby was the one to break the silence, looking and sounding as if she was close to tears, “I’m so sorry you guys, I have no idea what happened, suddenly he was just _there_ and…”

“My arm fell down”, Holtzmann said, and something about her tone made Erin look at her in alarm; and it was good that she had, because a second later, the engineer’s eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled, Erin catching her in the last second before she could hit the ground.

“Oh my God, Holtz”, she brought out, eyes wide; she already had been on the verge of panic after nearly having fallen to her death from the window, and seeing Holtzmann go down like that pushed her over the edge, her sight blurred by tears as she ended up kneeling on the floor, clutching the lifeless engineer to her chest.

“Erin”, Patty went into doctor mode at once, moving to the physicist’s side, Erin looking up at her with wide, panicked eyes, “I know you don’t want to, but you have to put her down on the floor, let me check her vitals, and then we have to put her in the recovery position. Come on, honey, here, I’ll help…”

She gently moved Holtzmann from Erin’s arms, and took a moment to check her pulse and to make sure she was still breathing; once she could be sure of both, she carefully moved the blonde so that she laid onto her side, Erin wringing her hands as she watched, part of her still rational enough to be glad that they had a doctor on the team.

“She should come back around any minute”, Patty said, still in the calming tone she had used before, the same tone, Erin remembered, she had been speaking with when she had told her about the loss of her leg all those months ago; figuring that Patty knew what she was talking about, she made herself nod, a gesture she repeated when Patty asked her to keep an eye on Holtz and that she would go get her arm from the sidewalk.

“I’m so sorry”, Abby said again as she crouched down next to the unconscious blonde, “I tried to stop him, I swear I did, but it happened so fast and… I don’t know… there was nothing I could do…”

“It’s not your fault”, Erin reassured her, even managing a smile, putting one hand on Holtzmann’s shoulder so the engineer would feel the contact once she’d come back around, “I was afraid this would happen, when I saw what he had drawn into the book… We have to find him and stop him, before he can cause any more chaos.”

Abby nodded, then looked at Holtzmann again, feeling desolate at the bruises which already were forming on the engineer’s throat; noting the look on her best friend’s face, Erin reached out with her free hand and grasped Abby’s, silently reassuring her that it was okay, the researcher giving her a weak smile in response as they both sat there in silence, waiting for Patty to come back and for Holtzmann to wake up again.


	41. Chapter 41

Fortunately, as Patty had predicted, it didn’t take Holtzmann long to wake up again; she was a bit dazed when she did, but could answer when Erin asked her if she knew where she was, if she knew the date and if she could name the current president.

“I’m fine”, she reassured the physicist as she sat up, voice a bit hoarse from when Rowan had choked her, stopping Erin from asking her if she remembered what they had had for dinner the previous evening, “just a bit… shaken up. Is he gone?”

“Yeah, he escaped through the window after Patty slapped him out of me”, Abby gave back, looking as if she wanted to hug Holtzmann, but not quite dared to, “and I’m so sorry Holtzmann, I tried to stop him…”

“Not your fault”, Holtzmann told her at once, Abby nearly tearing up at how fast and easily the blonde forgave her, “just another thing we’ll have to kick his ass for. That and what he did to the proton packs, I need to check them before we go anywhere…”

She got to her feet, but regretted how fast she had done so when the world started to spin around her and she, for the first time, consciously realized how much pain she was in; the worst was her arm, the familiar weight of the prosthetic gone and reminding her of the fact that it had fallen down to the sidewalk, but her other arm hurt too where she had cut it on splinters of glass still stuck to the frame, and her back ached from where she had landed when Rowan had thrown her across the room.

Holtzmann had a moment to become aware of the fact that she was swaying on her feet, and found herself wondering if she’d end up falling back down again – before she felt an arm snake around her waist and steady her, her eyes meeting Erin’s worried gaze when she looked who had come to her rescue.

“Careful”, Erin said, not pulling back her arm, making sure Holtzmann was truly steady on her feet and wouldn’t fall, “you’re hurt.”

“So are you”, Patty pointed out, frowning at the cuts Erin had suffered when Rowan had slammed her through the window; clearly not bothered by them, the physicist shrugged, then looked at Holtzmann again, concern in her eyes once more when she asked her how bad it was.

If it had been anyone else, Holtzmann wouldn’t have admitted how bad it actually was, would have told them that it wasn’t that bad; it was Erin though, and so, she allowed herself to be honest, not bothering to try and keep the pain out of her voice when she replied.

“Kinda bad”, she admitted, Erin’s concern only growing in response, “especially my arm.”

“Let me take a look at that?” Patty half said, half asked, “I mean, I did collect your prosthetic from the sidewalk, so we better make sure you didn’t get seriously hurt there.”

All Holtzmann wanted was to get work started on the proton packs, fix the damage Rowan had caused, but she knew that this wasn’t an option as long as she couldn’t even stand upright without help; and so, she nodded and let Erin lead her to one of the booths, sitting down somewhat heavily on the bench there, feeling bad all over again when Erin had to help her pull off her shirt.

The moment her arm came into view, Erin gasped audibly; she had expected some damage, maybe a bit of bruising, but certainly not to the extent she could see now, the whole area around the cup bruised an angry purple, warm to the touch and slightly swollen, Patty shaking her head when she got a look at it.

“Girl, you got lucky that the rest of your arm didn’t rip off right along with the prosthetic”, she said, eying the bruising and making Holtzmann wince when she touched the discoloured skin, despite how gentle the touch had been, “you better not move that around for a while.”

“I’d agree to that if Rowan wasn’t out there, probably causing more chaos as we speak”, Holtzmann gave back, making Patty frown, “just give me a painkiller or two and I’ll be good, I promise I’ll go easy once we took care of our now dead friend. Where’s my arm?”

“Here”, Abby said, holding the prosthetic in her arm and making a face at it, “but’s quite… bent. Not sure you can use that Holtz, I’m sorry.”

To her surprise, Holtzmann didn’t seem all too perturbed, just giving a one-sided shrug while Abby put the artificial limb down on the table in front of her so she could take a closer look; her surprise only grew when Holtzmann only took a brief look at the prosthetic, then her gaze moved on to Patty and she asked the doctor for a painkiller, prompting her to sigh before she nodded.

“I don’t condone this”, she said, giving Holtzmann a strict look, “as a doctor, I should tell you not to do this. But you’re right, Rowan is still out there, and we’ll need all hands on deck to stop him. But! The moment we took care of him, you go home, and you rest. Erin, promise me you’ll make sure that she’ll rest.”

Erin nodded at once, worried as well, but agreeing that they’d probably need all four of them to stop whatever Rowan might try to do; Patty let out a small sigh, then went to her car to get Holtzmann the painkiller the engineer had requested from the first aid kit in her car, Holtzmann leaning back in the seat as she waited for Patty to come back.

She took in a few slow, controlled breaths, then surprised Erin by getting up from her seat; hurriedly, Erin got up, too, following her to make sure she’d stay on her feet this time and wouldn’t end up nearly collapsing again.

To her relief, Holtzmann was steadier on her feet this time, making her way to one of the many boxes she still had stacked behind one of her workbenches, only pausing when she realized that she needed two arms to get the one she wanted from the top of the stack.

“Um, Erin?” she said, hating how helpless this was making her feel, after all the time she had lived with an almost perfectly functioning prosthetic, “can you get this box down for me?”

“Sure”, Erin gave back at once, taking hold of the box and pulling it down, surprised at how heavy it was; she placed it on the workbench and Holtzmann thanked her before she stepped up to it and opened it, then reached inside, Erin feeling quite impressed by the contraption she pulled out.

“Wow”, she let out, eying the device, realizing it looked a bit like the proton wands they all had connected to their packs, “is this what I think it is?”

“Proton gun”, Holtzmann gave back, “one which straps directly to my arm instead of onto the prosthetic like the other one. I didn’t have a chance to test it on an actual ghost, but it did fine in the alleyway tests. Help me strap it on?”

Erin nodded again, even though she was a bit worried that she might do something wrong; Holtzmann walked her through the process though, and a short while later, the proton gun had been strapped to where her artificial arm had been, Erin making sure that all the sensors which would allow Holtzmann to control movement of it were correctly connected.

Carefully, Holtzmann moved it left and right, smiling at how well it worked; then, she noticed that Abby, Patty and Erin all looked a bit apprehensive, and she raised an eyebrow, asking “what?” when it didn’t seem as if anyone would tell her without her asking.

“How does it fire?” Patty wanted to know, eying the contraption with a hint of worry, “cause, Holtzy, you know I love you, but if this is somehow mind-controlled like your arm…”

“Oh, it’s not”, Holtzmann told her, and all three deflated visibly in relief, prompting her to smirk in amusement, “it has a regular trigger button, so no worries there. Okay, I gotta check the packs now… Erin, help me out? Kinda hard to fix things with one hand.”

“Sure”, Erin said at once, following Holtzmann to where the damaged proton packs hung at the wall; they knew that they might not have much time, and so they got to work at once, Erin helping out the best she could while Holtzmann instructed her and did as much as possible with one hand, both of them glad that not too much damage had been done to the packs, all four women having the feeling that they would confront Rowan again quite soon.


	42. Chapter 42

As it turned out, the suspicions of the team had been right, the phone ringing just when Erin and Holtzmann finished repairing the last pack; it was Patty who took the call this time, looking surprised for a moment when the caller introduced himself, then just listened, only letting out vague noises of agreement every now and then to signal that she was listening.

“Alright, we’re on it”, she finally said, then hung up and turned to the other women, telling them what the call had been about before any of them had ask.

“That was Agent Hawkins”, she let them know, “the younger of our two men in black friends? Shit is hitting the fan at Times Square, apparently, Rowan found a body to go back to the Mercado with and power up his machine again.”

“Let’s go then”, Holtzmann said, making the others nod, “and kick some spectral butt.”

“You hold back with the butt kicking”, Patty sternly told her as they grabbed their equipment, Holtzmann not strapping on her pack though, as she’d use the gun mounted to her arm, “I can tell you’re not fully fine yet, and I don’t want you to collapse in the middle of whatever mess we’re getting into now.”

“Seconded”, Erin agreed, Holtzmann making a face at how they teamed up about this, “please be careful Holtz, and yes, I know I shouldn’t talk after I got dangled out a window and nearly fell to my death.”

“Still sorry about that”, Abby threw in, with a guilty look at the cuts Erin had taken from the sharp shards of glass still stuck in the frame; Erin told her once more that it wasn’t her fault, earning a weak smile, then the four of them headed out and to the garage, ready to stop Rowan once and for all.

* * *

By the time they got close to Times Square, Rowan’s machine apparently had powered up enough to cause chaos in the streets of New York; they had to abandon the car when the roads got too jammed and had to walk, the four of them jogging down the sidewalk which would take them to Times Square, proton wands out and ready for the moment they’d encounter a ghost or more than one.

It didn’t take long until this happened, the first apparition rushing at them with an angry howl even before they reached Times Square; apparently, it was some sort of exhibitionist ghost, since he opened his coat and showed them his skeletal insides while laughing gleefully, Holtzmann raising an eyebrow before she pushed the trigger of her gun and the ghost was blasted to bits, the other three women impressed by how powerful her weapon was.

“Am I glad he was literal bones beneath that coat”, the engineer then said, making Erin snicker, “I’m too gay to look at random penises, no matter if spectral or in the flesh.”

“You might have blasted him to bits even faster, had he shown you his ghostly wang”, Abby laughed, making the engineer roll her eyes before she smirked as well; then, the four of them got moving again, having to sidestep people running in blind panic every now and then, everyone who wasn’t them apparently eager to get away from Times Square instead of reaching it.

At least one of them recognized them though, Erin noticed, more than one voice calling out “it’s the Ghostbusters!” or some similar words which showed that people knew who they were; this made her feel quite happy, despite the dangerous situation they were moving towards, and she had to hold back a smile as the group kept approaching Times Square.

“Am I the only one whose ears just popped”, Abby wanted to know as they got closer, “or did you guys…?”

“No, same”, Erin told her, making a face as it happened again, a not exactly pleasant feeling, “guess that means we’re getting closer to the action, huh?”

“Be on alert, ladies”, Holtzmann commented, her right hand resting on her arm-gun, close to the trigger button, “you all got your sidearms, too, I suggest you use them. Aw, I wish I could have brought mine, they’re even more awesome than this gun here.”

“I’m sure you’ll have other chances to use them”, Erin reassured her, earning a happy smile from the engineer; and then, they stepped onto Times Square, and all four fell silent at the number of ghosts waiting for them there.

“Took you long enough”, a vaguely familiar voice echoed over the area, making them all grimace at how loud and condescending it sounded, “but finally, here you are. Welcome to the golden times of New York City, ladies – have fun!”

The disembodied voice laughed nastily, then all the ghosts turned in perfect unison, staring a the Ghostbusters balefully; Erin had a second to swallow heavily, and to tell herself that she could do this, and then they were surging forward with an angry roar, and she had no more time to think about anything else than fighting and staying on her feet.

At least, the ghosts went down fairly quickly, she thought to herself as she blasted one after the other into slimy little bits; whatever Rowan’s machine was doing to bring them to this plane, it apparently wasn’t on full power yet, not making them as strong as they could have been, most of them going down with just one hit from the proton wand.

From the corner of her eye, Erin could see Holtzmann practically plow through the ghosts, using her gun with impressive accuracy; Abby and Patty were doing equally well, and with the four of them working together, it didn’t take long until the army of ghosts had been noticeably reduced.

There were still a few left though, a few which were stronger than the ones the team already had taken care of; from the corner of her eye, Erin noticed one of them rushing at the engineer when her back was turned, and without thinking, she yanked out her proton shotgun and shouted for Holtzmann to get down, the blonde dropping down to her knees immediately, Erin just allowing herself a second to aim before she pulled the trigger, the ghost exploding as the proton projectile hit, splatters of ectoplasm landing on Holtzmann’s back and making her grimace.

“For once, it wasn’t me”, Erin commented, earning a snicker from Abby while Holtzmann came to her feet again; she shuddered as the movement made the ectoplasm slide down her back to her legs, cold even through her coveralls, then she told herself that she had other things to worry about now and smiled at Erin, stepping closer to her and slinging one arm around her shoulders.

“Thanks babe”, she said, pressing a quick kiss to the physicist’s cheek and making her smile, “didn’t see that one coming.”

“I figured”, Erin gave back, while Abby blasted the last remaining ghost with the ghostpuncher Holtzmann had made for her, “and nothing to thank me for.”

“Alright”, Abby threw in as the couple grinned at each other, before it could get too cheesy, “looks like we’re done here. Let’s go to that hotel and kick Rowan’s ass for good.”

“Hell yeah”, Patty agreed, Erin and Holtzmann nodding as well; and with that goal in mind, they got moving again, approaching the Mercado fast now that there were no more ghosts to stop them, eager to put an end to this before things could escalate even further.


	43. Chapter 43

With the way to the Mercado free, it didn’t take the Ghostbusters long to arrive there; several cars were already parked nearby, with policemen and army people standing with their weapons out, Erin spotting the two men in black from the mayor’s office among the uniformed group, one of them seeing the Ghostbusters as well and waving them over.

“You took care of the Times Square situation?” he asked instead of greeting them; Erin felt a bit miffed at this, but nodded, and he had the grace to give her a brief, appreciative smile, then gestured at the hotel, making all four look at it.

“Rowan North is in there”, Hawkins them told, “at least, we think he is, he seems to have… taken control of somebody else. Whatever he is doing in there, he has to be stopped before it can be finished, but he has ghosts in there protecting him, and we don’t have the equipment to stop those.”

“Luckily, we do”, Holtzmann gave back, and even though she didn’t like all these people seeing the gun she had strapped to her arm, she didn’t let that stop her, either, the gun humming audibly as she raised it slightly, “so let’s go and kick some ass.”

Hawkins and several of the soldiers were eying her arm gun curiously, but none of them had the chance to ask about it, as the four women got moving again; they pushed the doors open and, without missing a beat, spotted the ghosts hovering in the lobby, and started firing before the apparitions even had registered they were there.

“Well, well, well”, that oddly familiar voice came again as the last ghost vanished into globs of ectoplasm, “I have to say, you showed up here sooner than I expected.”

From the corner of her eye, Erin noticed movement, and swung her proton wand around, only to pause and blink; apparently, Rowan had found another body to possess, a tall, muscular man, Erin blinking again as he seemed just as oddly familiar as his voice, and she found herself wondering where she had seen him before, until…

“ _Kevin?!”_ Patty cried out, sounding so scandalized it made them all stare at her, “seriously? You possessed Kevin?! He’s just a big dumb puppy, you big bully!”

“Eh, he just happened to be there when I needed a body”, Rowan replied, shrugging Kevin’s shoulders, Erin now remembering where she had seen the man – when he had wandered into Holtzmann’s trap back at the hospital and Patty had told them that he apparently was an actor who had been thinking the whole day he was on some sort of set, “after I got so rudely evicted from yours, Abby. I have to say though, this body is certainly an upgrade.”

“Everything you wanted to be, but never managed, right”, Abby snarked in response, not liking his tone and the things he was saying, “tall, handsome, muscular, and actually a decent human being.”

The last one was a bit of a guess, since she didn’t truly know Kevin all that well, only having heard what the others had told her about him; she could tell though that her words had an effect, Kevin’s features darkening – before he let out a harsh bellow, and more ghosts materialized around him, a malicious smile curling his lips as he gestured at the Ghostbusters.

“Take them out”, he told the ghosts, the four women readying their weapons again, “don’t fear death, my jumpsuited friends, once you did die, I’ll add your ghosts to my army, so you can help me finish what you’re trying to stop in the first place.”

Holtzmann didn’t bother to acknowledge his words in any way, but simply took aim and fired, taking one of the ghosts out; Rowan growled at the sight, and his ire only grew when the others joined her in combat, the ghosts quickly being neutralized by their weaponry.

“Damn you”, he grumbled as Holtzmann shot down another ghost, the engineer briefly glancing at her gun as it had started to hum louder; another growl came from him – before he left Kevin’s body, the man slumping down unconscious while Rowan momentarily hovered as a blue-ish mist, calling out to the few ghosts still left, his incorporeal form quickly growing when they rushed to him in response and vanished within him.

“He’s absorbing them”, Erin cried, eyes going wide, something she hadn’t thought to be possible until this very second, “and growing stronger! We have to stop him, fast!”

They all fired, dismayed when he flew this way and that, avoiding their projectiles and the proton streams; the weapon strapped to Holtzmann’s arm started to hum louder, the noise getting loud enough to gain Erin’s attention, the physicist glancing at the weapon in worry before she looked at her girlfriend.

“Holtz?” she said, gaze moving back to Rowan so he couldn’t try anything while she wasn’t looking, “is it supposed to make that noise?”

“No”, Holtzmann gave back, but fired once more anyway; and a moment later, the hum got so loud that she could feel it vibrate all the way to her shoulder, and sparks flew from several parts of it, signalling even clearer than the humming that something was very wrong.

Quickly, Holtzmann started removing the gun from her arm, Erin realizing what she was doing after a moment and moving to help without wasting time with questioning what was happening; together, they got the contraption off the engineer’s arm quickly, and Holtzmann threw it with all her might, making sure it landed to close to Rowan before she shouted at the others to get down and close their eyes.

They all did without question, and despite squeezing their eyes shut, the explosion was bright enough to let the darkness behind their eyelids flare up with light; they felt it more than they heard it, heard Rowan scream though and a second later, ectoplasm rained down on all four of them, Erin letting out a groan as she felt the stuff hit her hair and back.

Once the noise of the explosion and the rain of ectoplasm had died down, they all dared to look again; and to their surprise and relief, Rowan’s ghost was gone, along with the ones he had merged with, the sad remains of Holtzmann’s gun smoking on the ground in an impressively large puddle of ectoplasm.

“Wow”, Abby let out, coming to her feet and eying the mess while Kevin reminded them of his presence by letting out a grunt, apparently coming back around, “did you knew this would happen, Holtz?”

“Well, I was fairly certain it would happen”, Holtzmann admitted, earning a raised eyebrow from Erin, “I never had the chance to test it for prolonged use. Kinda glad it did though, seems like it took Rowan out.”

“And kinda glad it didn’t do that while it was still strapped to your arm”, Erin said, giving her a strict look, “no more strapping potentially explosive weapons to yourself from now on, you hear? I want you around for a bit longer, you know.”

Holtzmann looked a bit bashful for a moment, then smiled and nodded; Erin gave her a smile as well in response, then pulled her close for a brief kiss – before the women went to check on Kevin and then to tell the agents and soldiers outside that Rowan had been taken care of and that the danger was over once and for all.


	44. Chapter 44

“Ooff”, Erin let out as she slumped into the booth, grimacing at the squelching sounds coming from her back as she leaned against the bench and bending forward again, remembering the slime still stuck to her jumpsuit, “remind me again please why we didn’t go straight home?”

“Cause we gotta put the equipment away”, Holtzmann was the one to remind her, carrying Patty’s Ghost Chipper as it was one of the items she could carry easily with one hand, “and because the agents said something about the mayor’s PA wanting to meet us here. She better come here to tell us what an awesome job we did and not to nag about how publicly the whole thing happened.”

“Well, it’s not like we had any control over that”, Abby pointed out, sitting down as well, having changed out of her slimed coveralls and into something clean, “and honestly, I’m tired and sore, so this better not take too long.”

Erin nodded her agreement, then realized that she probably should change into something more fitting for an official visit as well; she let out an unhappy sigh at having to move again, but forced herself up from her seat, glad that she had stored several outfits at the lab, what with her tendency to get slimed during busts.

For a moment, she considered putting on one of the tweed suits she’d brought, just to look professional when the PA would arrive; then, she decided against it, feeling too tired and drained to put up with the stiff outfit, and put on a comfortable sweater and a pair of jeans instead, running her hands through her hair in an attempt to tame it a bit before she returned to the rest of the team, the other three women looking as tired as Erin herself was feeling.

“Did she say when she was gonna come?” Patty wanted to know, yawning, “cause I really want to get some sleep soon. As soon as possible.”

As if on cue, a knock came from the door, and they all perked up; as it turned out though, it wasn’t Jennifer Lynch, but Kevin, the man grinning at them as he entered the lab and looked around, the four women blinking in slight confusion, not quite sure what he wanted.

“Oh”, he said once Abby had been the one to inquire about his visit, “I came here cause Rowan was saying mean things about you while he was in my head, and then you came and stopped him and made him leave. So I wanted to thank you, for getting him out! And for stopping him.”

“Um, well, you’re welcome”, Abby said, not quite having expected that; and she expected even less what Kevin said next, as the man asked if they were still looking for a receptionist, apparently having seen their ad when he had been looking for castings, and now, after they had helped him, he seemed quite eager to work for them in return.

“Well, no one else has applied so far”, Erin pointed out, the others nodding, “and, not to be shallow, but he does look as if he can carry around the heavy equipment much easier than we ourselves can. So… Let’s give him a chance?”

“Fine with me”, Holtzmann nodded, the other two agreeing as well after a moment; and so, Kevin was told that he was hired, beaming at them in response, and perking up when a moment later, yet another knock came from the door.

“Ghostbusters!” he yelled as he yanked the door open, Jennifer Lynch losing her cool demeanour as she flinched at this unexpected greeting, looking composed again though by the time Kevin spoke on a more regular tone, “how can we help you?”

“We got an appointment with her, Kevin”, Patty called out, making him nod and step aside, “but good job there, buddy.”

Kevin beamed and even did a little bow, making them wonder if he thought once again that this was some sort of movie set; Jennifer eyed him curiously as she walked past him and to the booth, then seemed to shrug it off as she sat down, placing her briefcase on the table and clearing her throat.

“I imagine you all are tired after today’s excitement”, she said, making them nod with barely disguised relief, “so I’ll make this short. The mayor thanks you for your work today, and for stopping Mr North before whatever it was he was planning could actually come to fruition.”

“He was trying to open a vortex, I think”, Erin commented, even though she wasn’t quite sure the PA actually cared, “that’s what his machine was supposed to accomplish, in the end. Luckily we managed to neutralize his ghost before he could finish, though.”

Jennifer nodded, with a small, tight smile; she cleared her throat again, then continued, the four women exchanging looks of at first disbelief, then happiness at what the PA was telling them.

“The mayor and the agents we work with decided we need to be prepared, should something like this ever happen again”, she let the team know, “so the city of New York is offering you funding, for you to research this further. I have a written offer from the mayor here, with the details, but let me give you the gist of it – you can ask for anything you want, and the mayor will make sure you get it.”

“Anything?” Erin wanted to know, mind already racing with the possibilities; Jennifer nodded and confirmed that they indeed could ask for anything, and the four women smiled, each already having ideas and making plans for the future, now that they knew they could keep their work up with pay and official funding, all four of them happy that things had turned out this way.

* * *

“Well, that all worked out marvellously”, Erin smiled quite a while later, as she entered the apartment with Holtzmann right behind her, “not only did we save New York city and stopped Rowan from opening a dreadful vortex, but also we’ll get funding from the mayor! And I saw that Filmore called me shortly after the averted apocalypse, so I’m pretty sure Columbia is gonna offer us funding, too.”

“Excellent”, Holtzmann grinned, making her smile and nod as well while they pulled off their shoes, then moved on to the living room; Holtzmann got them drinks from the fridge, then they got comfortable on the couch, Erin cuddling up against her girlfriend, letting out a small happy sigh when Holtzmann put her arm around her.

“You know”, she then said, smiling again when the engineer moved her hand to play with her hair, “when I woke up in the hospital and saw what had happened to my leg… I was so devastated. I was sure my life would get so much more difficult and everything, but… instead, it got so much better. I got Abby back in my life, and I met you, and we actually captured ghosts and now are funded by the government to study this! This all turned out so much better than I’d ever dared to hope, I’m so happy.”

“I’m happy you’re happy”, Holtzmann told her, smiling, “and I have to admit, when Abby got that call, I didn’t expect anything of this to happen, either. But I’m really glad it did.”

“Me too”, Erin nodded, then moved to kiss her gently; and once they pulled apart again, she blurted out the first thing which came to her mind without thinking, something she might not have had said, had she thought about it first, might have decided that it was too early for these words.

“I love you”, she said, and for a few moments, all Holtzmann could do was blink; then, she broke into a wide, happy smile, kissing Erin again and holding her close afterwards, emotion clearly audible in her voice when she replied.

“I love you, too”, she said, making Erin smile happily as well, “and I know this is gonna sound awful, but I’m really glad you got hit by that car.”

“Me too”, Erin replied with a small laugh, before she pulled her in for another kiss; and as they kissed, she felt happier than she had in a long time before the accident, and she couldn’t wait to see what the future would bring for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another one done :) Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed :D


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